To Be In Each Other's Shoes
by icywarm
Summary: The beast of Ikebukuro and the flea of Shinjuku are always fighting. But one day, it goes too far, and Celty gets angry. In order to stop the fighting, Shizuo and Izaya must get along. And to make sure that they will, Celty switches their bodies.
1. Chapter 1

Shizuo growled angrily. The fucking flea had gotten away. Of course he had gotten away. Not once had he been able to catch the slippery little bug. He was even injured. Bleeding from those knife wounds. He didn't feel any of the pain, but he was sure that if he lost enough blood, he'd pass out. And that wouldn't be good. So, he headed to Shinra's.

"Oi. Get out here Shinra. I need you to patch me up!" He had let himself into the doctor's place, and seated himself on the couch. "Lock your doors too!" Shinra shook his head and grabbed his medical bag, starting to fix Shizuo up, but he didn't dare lock the door. It was then that they had a repeat. After all, Shizuo's aim had been good today. Izaya walked in and smirked.

"Shizu-chan~, fancy meeting you here~" Shizuo felt his eye twitch. After all, the flea was there.

"I-za-ya..." It was a threatening tone, showing that he was already rather angry at the raven's arrival.

"Ne, Shinra, ignore the brute, he's fine, me on the other hand~" He smirked at Shizuo, daring him to get up and attack. Izaya was actually in pain, he just knew how to hide it. That smirk was it. Shizuo roared, pushing Shinra to the side, not caring, at the moment, if he was hurt in the process.

"IZAYA!" Shinra's coffee table was flung strait towards Izaya. Izaya ducked to the side easily.

"Honestly, a monster like you shouldn't even need medical care~, you're in good shape anyways~" Shizuo's eye twitched again.

"Like you know anything about me!" There went Shinra's couch too. Missed Izaya, because he dodged, and went straight through the wall into the street. Celty came storming out at that point, thoroughly pissed off that her home was being destroyed. Again.

"Eh? I know more than I want to about Shizu-chan~" Shizuo let out another roar, not noticing that Celty had come out and was in the same room. He grabbed the medical bag that Shinra had previously been using and threw that at Izaya, it making a pretty decent sized dent on the wall when Izaya dodged it. That was quite enough. Celty's Shadow's wrapped right around both of them now, locking the two battling me in place.

"What the hell?! Celty?" It only took Shizuo a moment to realize that the shadows restraining them both belonged to the headless rider. Looking around, he noticed that he had destroyed the place she and Shinra lived...

"Oh my, we have made a mess ne? Or rather that monster did," Izaya rolled his eyes, about the only part he could move.

Shizuo growled angrily. "You fucking piece of shit!" If Celty wasn't holding them both back, he'd be throwing something else at the raven.

'BOTH OF YOU STOP IT' Her voice flooded through her shadows right into their heads. 'I am sick to **DEATH** of your constant fighting!' Shizuo immediately stopped yelling at Izaya and kept his mouth shut. He had just pissed of Celty. Well, him and Izaya, but still. That was something that was hard to do.

'You BOTH need to understand each other better! Stop fighting and get along already! You might actually LIKE each other if you got to know one another!'

"Psh, as if, Shizu-chan is nothing but a monster~, why would I _want_ to get to know him?" Shizuo felt his eye twitch again. "The flea had his chance when Shinra introduced us and he fucked it up."

"I did? You're the one who threw a punch without even so much as a 'how d'you do'!"

"Only because you pissed me off!"

"I hadn't even said anything! The first words out of your mouth were 'You piss me off'!" Izaya argued. Celty would have had her head in her palm if she had it.

"Yeah, and? You had that aura around you. And then you smirked at me and you cut me! Maybe it would have worked out better if you didn't do all those things to make me hate you!"

"Make you hate me? You're the one who attacked me for that whole first week when I never did anything! I only defended myself at first you kno-"

'ENOUGH! BOTH OF YOU ARE TO BLAME. Find out what it's like to be each other then!' She declared and without another word both of them were completely enveloped in a cocoon of Shadows.

At first, Shizuo panicked, trying to get out. However it was pointless. He was trapped. And before long, he was out like a light. Izaya too tried to escape and he too was knocked unconscious soon enough. They were cocooned for only two minutes and then she set them both on the ground.

"Celty... what did you do?" Shinra asked now that he saw that both males were unconscious on the ground. He'd never seen Celty do that before.

[I made them switch. Izaya is Shizuo and Shizuo is Izaya.] She sat down crossly and waited for them to wake up.

"O...kay. But doesn't that seem a bit dangerous?"

[Maybe. They'll be forced to work together if they want to survive though, and that means they have to get to know each other]

"Ah. Okay then. If you say so. How long do you think it'll take before one of them wake up?"

[They should wake up soon] Celty informed him and it was Shizuo -or rather Izaya in Shizuo's body- who stirred first, groaning and rubbing his head as he sat up.

"Ah. Hello... Izaya... How do you feel?" He almost said Shizuo, on instinct, but Izaya would discover he wasn't himself soon enough.

"What the hell did you do to me Celty?" He groaned. His voice was even Shizuo's but still woozy, Izaya failed to notice.

[Now you two have to work together and get to know each other, else you really won't be able to survive.] She didn't give a direct answer, seeing as he really would see what happened soon enough.

Just then Shizuo, who was in Izaya's body, groaned. "Uggg. My head is killing me." He failed to notice that he sounded like Izaya as well. Izaya did notice though... that wasn't Shizuo's voice... he turned to look and blinked. He was looking at himself?

Shizuo rubbed the back of his, or rather Izaya's, head as he sat up, blinking a couple of time to clear the blurriness from his eyes. "W-what the hell?!" Of course, now he noticed that he sounded like Izaya, and he was staring at himself.

"Celty what did you do to us?!" Izaya asked, panic stricken. He couldn't be Shizuo! He just... oh wait, did this mean he was retardedly strong now? Shizuo glared at Celty. "Fix this." There was no way in hell he was going to stay as the flea. It was the flea!

[You'll revert when you get along] She informed them.

"So... never... oh well~! Like this who needs my old body? I have Shizu-chan's strength, ne~?"

Shizuo's eye twitched. "Yeah. But you'll be me flea! You'll have to do my job and I'll be you! You really want to do that?"

"Eh? No, no, see I have your strength! I can kill Shizu-chan when he's so weak like this~"

"You'd be killing yourself flea!"

"Eh?" He blinked and realized if he killed Shizuo he was dead...

[You're lives are connected right now. If your original body dies so do you. If one of you dies so does the other] Celty said then and Izaya gulped. Shizuo crossed his arms. He wanted to tell Celty that her plan was stupid... but he really didn't want to tick her off again. Who knew? She might be able to do something worse. "How the hell are me and the flea supposed to work together though?"

[Figure it out. Live together if you have to, but if you both want to live you had better figure it out fast]

"Oh... Oh nononono..." Izaya paled considerably, "No, turn us back, no, I have clients! Shizu-chan can't do what I do for a living; he'll get us killed tonight!"

"Yeah Celty. Turn us back. I don't want anyone else to see us like this. It's stupid."

[No. You'll turn back when you learn to get along] She would have been scowling if she could.

Shizuo scowled. "That's real great. Real fucking great."

[Deal with it. I'm tired of having the city destroyed, my house destroyed and my peace and quiet destroyed. Learn to get along so the whole damn city can relax would you?]

"Screw this. I'm going home."

"Shizuo. You'd have to go to Izaya's place if you wanted to go home," Shinra pointed out.

"Damn it! I'm not letting that monster into my house!" Izaya stood up but he felt a little wobbly. He was six inches taller right now than what he was used to.

"Shizu-chan, why do you have to be so tall...?"

"Shut it flea. You're too short! And unless you want to be seen heading to my house, I gotta go to yours!" It was probably a bit funny seeing and hearing Izaya talk and act like Shizuo, and vice versa, but that was beside the point.

"You don't even know where I live? How will you deal with my clients anyways? Everyone is going to know you're not me if you keep acting so... so... so you!"

"Well you're acting like you while you're me!"

"Tch... the best thing is for us to live together... we'll go to my place, I can brief you on which clients are which," Shit, Namie was still there too... he'd figure that out later, Shizuo could send her home early.

"Fine. You should probably grab some clothes from my place then. Else you'll be wearing the same thing for days on end." He was still glaring though, and was rather pissed at the whole situation. "You'll have to work with Tom too."

"Gah! Fine~! Here's our plan! We get a cab, go to your place, pick things up, get back in the cab go to my place. You send my secretary home for the day while I hide in the stairwell then I go in and brief you on how to do my job. We can shuffle them around so that I'm in the shadows if anything happens. Sound good?" He asked.

"Tch. Good enough. Who's calling the cab?"

"You. Call... give me my phone," He held a hand out for it.

Shizuo dug around Izaya's pockets until he found the phone. "Here," He huffed a bit. This really was stupid and he didn't like it. Izaya typed in the number and handed it back, "Use my name and sound... I dunno, more like me ne~?"

"Tch. Shut up." He waited until the company picked up. "Orihara Izaya. I need a cab at this address." It was all he dared to do. Otherwise he knew he was going to mess things up. After the call ended, he shoved the phone back into his pocket. "There."

Izaya sighed, "Let's swap wallets too, I can't use your cards you can't use mine... except the ID..." He dug around until he found Shizuo's. "This is pretty ratty..."

"Shut up! I don't make much money. And how would that work? Aren't cards registered by name? If I gave you your stuff, it'd look like I was using it." Shizuo huffed angrily, not digging Izaya's wallet from his pockets.

"Yes but you haven't got my pin numbers and I'm not about to give them to you!" Izaya huffed, "Besides, it's not like shop keepers are going to check our ID for every time we use a credit card or bank card!"

"Fine you fucking flea." Shizuo dug out Izaya's wallet from his pocket before throwing it at Izaya.

Izaya caught it and tossed Shizuo the other wallet, happy the ...well this was confusing. Shizuo technically was neither blonde, a bodyguard or... well anything he used to be. Shizuo pulled his ID out of the wallet before handing it to Izaya. "Take this and give me your ID. The cab should be here soon." Izaya switched with him and when the cab arrived it was up to Shizuo to give his address first since Izaya didn't know where the other lived.

* * *

**_Icywarm_: So here it is. A new fanfiction after months of being gone. Don't worry. This one is finished and a rp with Seliphra. I hope you enjoyed chapter one~**


	2. Chapter 2

Shizuo did give the address, and soon they arrived. "Hurry up flea."

Izaya was having trouble moving when he was too tall, he kept hitting his head on things since Shizuo was so tall. Low hanging branches, shelves...

Shizuo's eyes twitched. "Quit hitting my head, damned flea."

"I can't help it, you're taller than me! I'm not used to having to duck all the time!" Izaya whined, rubbing his -er... Shizuo's... well, it was his for now- forehead.

"You just aren't paying attention to where you're going. I don't have to duck for anything."

"You're used to it!" Izaya pointed out as they got into Shizuo's apartment. "Where do you keep your clothing? We should pack a lot..." There was no telling how long they would be stuck like this.

"In my room in the dresser. Duh." Shizuo was scowling as he led the way. That scowl looked all wrong on Izaya's face but the looks of condensation and amusement on Shizuo's were just as out of place.

"This is weird..." Izaya sighed, trying to find a suitcase or something.

"No duh." Shizuo pulled the suitcase out of the closet. "Let's just get this over with."

Izaya grabbed everything that wasn't a bartender outfit first -which was one pair of jeans and three t-shirts- before packing some of the bartender outfits. Shizuo's closet was amusingly full of them.

"Tch. Don't like my outfit flea?"

"It's boring," Izaya grumbled, "You need half decent clothing, something less ridiculous and more... normal?"

"My brother gave me my clothes!"

"And? My sisters give me all sorts of strange things, doesn't mean I use them," Certainly not all the sex toys they kept sending...

"Tch. Because that was a present. I wanted to keep my bartender job, but you got me fired from that."

"You could have tried a different bar... or you know, told them it was a wrongful arrest," Izaya pointed out, "Besides, I only did that because I was paid to~"

"They fired me even though I was cleared of all charges. And Tom hired me after I was fired."

"Eh, you have a job; quit complaining... there, that should be enough, right?" He closed the suitcase and picked it up.

"Tch. Whatever. Let's go flea."

"We should stop calling each other things like that...mmn; you should start acting more like me ne? Or are you too thick?" He walked out and back down to the cab.

"Tch. Fine. I'll try tomorrow... Let's just get to your place." They entered the cab now, and Shizuo decided to just shut up.

Izaya gave the cabbie his address next and sat back, his own mouth staying shut for the duration of the trip. Soon they arrived at Izaya's place. They exited the cab, and headed up to the flat. "Do you have a key or what to get in?"

"It's by a code, both doors," Izaya punched it in and opened the front door.

"After you Shizu-chan~" He chuckled, holding the door open.

Shizuo scowled before walking in. "Eventually, I'm gonna have to get that code. It'll be strange if 'Izaya' doesn't know how to get into his own house."

"Mmn..." Izaya was clearly displeased by that notion, but Shizuo was quite correct. He needed to know the code. Izaya hit the top floor button in the elevator and walked Shizuo to his door.

"Okay, I punch the code in. There's going to be a woman in there, her name is Namie, send her home, tell her you'll pay her for the hours she doesn't work, just get her out of the apartment." He instructed.

Shizuo let out an irritated sigh. "Fine. And after she's gone, you'll come in." He stated it, knowing that that was what it was. He let out another irritated sigh. "Let's get this done with." He punched the code in for Shizuo before heading for the stairwell. Namie always took the elevator so he could hide there.

Shizuo rolled his eyes before entering. He looked around the place. He had to tell this Namie girl she could leave and that he'd pay her for what she didn't work. Ah. There she was. Smooth. Just act like its normal. Sit in what Shizuo assumed was Izaya's seat at the desk. "Namie, you can leave now. I'll pay you for the hours you don't work." Perfect.

Namie blinked at him, "Really? That's oddly nice of you..." She frowned a little. Something was up with Izaya... Shizuo sat down at the desk now. Okay. So this was his practice. He waved his hand slightly. "There's just nothing else for you to do today." He felt like he was being mean.

Namie frowned, "Really? Even with Shiki-san coming in this evening?" Izaya always had Namie for that, so she could serve tea to the Yakuza boss. Shizuo internally frowned. Who the hell was Shiki? Well, he had to get rid of her so Izaya could get in. "Yes yes. You can go."

"Right... fine, so long as you actually to pay up you bastard," Namie shrugged and left and the moment she was gone Izaya came in.

"What took so damn long?"

"She was questioning me, flea."

"Right. Well, she was probably suspicious..." He sat on the couch with a sigh, "Uwaaa, and Shiki-san is coming this evening!"

"She mentioned something about him. He one of your clients?"

"Yes, and you had better be respectful! He's third in charge of the Awakusu-Kai Yakuza group and the representative they send to meet with me when they need information,"

"I don't have any idea about what he'd want though. How am I supposed go through with your meeting?!"

"The folder is right here," Izaya pulled open a drawer and showed it to him.

"Give him the folder, he'll hand over my money and then probably leave. He's polite though, he'll ask how you are, how life is so on, just be polite and lie through your teeth!"

Shizuo felt his eye twitch. He knew he was a horrible liar. So this probably wouldn't go through so well. "Alright then flea. Do I call him Shiki or something else? And what if he asks about something else? And if he's so important, I imagine he won't be alone, so which one would be him?"

"Shiki-san, call him Shiki-san. He'll be the man in the middle and his two lackeys are unimportant... ignore them entirely."

Shizuo scowled before leaning against the back of Izaya's chair. "Fine. So Shiki-san. He'll be in the middle. Give him the folder and be polite. That it?"

"More than that serve him tea, jasmine, Namie normally does that but you'll have to. If he asks where she is tell him she was feeling ill."

"Tch. Whatever. Wait until he arrives to make tea?"

He'll be here at seven, make the tea ten minutes before so it's ready" Izaya instructed.

"Fine." Shizuo rolled his eyes. This really sucked. He had no idea how this Shiki person would act. And if he really was a regular client of Izaya's, then he'd know something was up. Hopefully he'd think it was a cold or something. "Jasmine tea at six-fifty. Got it."

"Good..." Izaya wanted Ootoro... well, his mind did. His body said milk and cake... "Why do I want cake so much?!"

"Cause I love cake and you're me, flea."

"Gah! You better not over eat in my body! I keep careful track of what I weigh!"

"Do you like sweets?"

"No, I hate sweets... but Ootoro~! Ootoro is the food of the gods, but don't you dare eat it more than once a week!"

"Flea... we're each other. We have each other's taste buds. I've tried ootoro, I hate it. Which means while you're me, you hate it. And I won't over eat sweets while you because you hate sweets." Shizuo managed to think of that. After all, they were each other.

"Ugh..." Izaya sat down on his couch with a groan. "I wanna be me again..."

"I wanna be me again too, flea. But Celty says it won't be reversed until after we get along so stop your complaining."

"What if we just tell her we like each other? Then we can get back to hating each other in peace!"

"I don't think she'd buy it, flea. It hasn't even been a day. Besides, what if she switches us back, sees us fighting, and decides to do something worse than just switch up our bodies? I wouldn't doubt that she would."

"Gah... I guess I had better start swearing ne?"

"Tch. Whatever. I only swear when I get mad, flea." Shizuo looked around, trying to figure out what time it was. He didn't want to mess up that meeting. It would certainly be bad if he did.

"Six fifteen..." Izaya said, noticing Shizuo trying to find a clock.

"...Thanks flea." He sighed and leaned back against the chair some more, closing his eyes. This was really annoying.

"Protozoan. You have to call me protozoan; I have to call you flea..."

"Tch. Only when people are around. Else it's just pointlessly insulting yourself."

"Mmn, we have to get used to it ne? I mean... We have to get used to it right?"

Shizuo glared at Izaya. "Fine."

"Start talking like me Shizu-chan" Izaya sighed, "I mean... Damn it, talk the right way flea!"

Shizuo's eye twitched in annoyance. Izaya seemed to be a better actor than him. "I don't focus on how you talk when you annoy me. So why don't you just tell me how I'm suppose to act?"

"Fine, act like everything's a joke. If you're me then you're God among humans, your precious humans! Humans are your favorite thing now, don't forget it!"

"So act like everything's a joke and I'm better than everyone, act like I love humans, but be respectful to clients. Fine. I got it."

"I don't act like I'm better than everyone, I AM better than everyone~"

Shizuo rolled his eyes. "Yep. I gotta act like I am. Got it."

"When I talk to you that's how I usually am. With clients that are dangerous, respect is important but with lower thugs its fine to be rude."

"I don't know the difference between them so I guess you have to tell me which of your clients I have to be respectful to and which I don't."

"If they wear suits and carry guns and have bodyguards be respectful, if they look like street thugs they generally are," He shrugged.

"Tch. Whatever flea. ...Protozoan." Hmm. More awkward to say then he thought it would. After all, he was insulting himself.

"Now then, think you can handle that?" Izaya asked, glancing at the clock before getting up to make the tea. He knew how Shiki liked it better; it would be safer if he made it.

"Yeah. I think I can handle it." Shizuo got out of the chair and went to go sit on the couch. "Oi. Are you going to leave the tea in there or have it ready on the table for when this Shiki guy gets here?"

"In here, you have to bring it to him," Izaya frowned a little.

"Tch. Fine. Seems like a bit of a waste of time though. Do I bring a cup just for him or some for his body guards too or just for me and him?"

"Just him, I never have anything when a client is present unless they're lesser thugs,"

"Guess that makes it easier. Are you just gonna stay hiding in the kitchen while the meeting goes on, or are you gonna go somewhere else?"

"Upstairs," Izaya said, heading there now. Shizuo probably hadn't even noticed there was an upstairs yet. He hadn't, and his next question proved it. "You have an upstairs?"

"Yes, this is a penthouse apartment Shizu-chan, I have a lot of space~" Izaya chuckled as he headed on up. "Don't screw up ne~?"

Shizuo's eye twitched, but he let Izaya be, instead leaning against the back of the couch and waiting for Shiki to arrive. Shiki came soon enough and like Izaya said he was the one in the middle.

"Orihara-san, it's good to see you again,"

Ah, yes. Act like Izaya, but be respectful to him. He leaned back against the couch. "Yes, it is, Shiki-san."

"I trust you had no difficulty with the assignment we gave you?" He asked next, leaning forward a little, eyes narrowed and his chin resting on his hands, his fingers interwoven with each other.

_ This is a bit... intimidating..._ "Of course it wasn't." Shizuo relaxed himself as if it were natural, when really he just tense up around Shiki.

"Excellent, so where is it?" He asked, motioning to the man on the right who set a briefcase on the desk for Izaya.

_ Crap. Probably should have brought it over here before he got here._ Shizuo stood up and headed towards the desk, picking up the envelope before walking back over to Shiki. "Right here, Shiki-san."

"Excellent," He nodded to his man who released the case before lifting the envelope and looking through it.

"Eight hundred million, as agreed then," He stated, frowning a little before looking up. "Orihara-san, you seem a bit... off. Perhaps you should take it easy,"

_ Knew his regular clients would know something was off._ "I'll keep that in mind."

"Then I shall be in contact," Shiki stood promptly before leaving and when he did Izaya returned.

"You forgot the tea..."

Shizuo sighed. "Oops. I guess I forgot."

"Mmn... he knew something was wrong didn't he?" Izaya sat down grumbling a little.

"Yeah. Told me to take it easy. Ya know, that guy is a bit intimidating."

"Hm? Shiki-san is? I suppose I'm just used to people like that then," Izaya shrugged.

"Tch. Whatever. Now what though?"

"Mn... now I need to know your day. You're job" He pointed out, eyeing his own body.

"I usually meet up with Tom around eight at the park. Then I usually just follow him around for the day. I am his body guard. The day ends at different times, but if it ends around six, he sometimes invites me to Russia Sushi for dinner. If he does, I accept. If not, I go home. If the day ends earlier, I usually wonder around the city till about six-thirty."

"How boring..." Izaya frowned and then he found himself itching for something. His fingers twitched a little like something was missing.

Shizuo glanced at Izaya. From the way his fingers were twitching, he knew the other wanted a smoke. Ah yes. Seems he had a physical addiction to the cigarettes. Still, he stayed quiet. Shizuo wanted to see if Izaya figured it out himself.


	3. Chapter 3

Izaya blinked and frowned, "If you smoke in my body..." Izaya knew it was mental as much as physical.

"I'm not the one itching for a smoke right now. Vest pocket is the pack."

Izaya stood and marched onto the deck so he could satisfy the craving. He dug the pack out and found Shizuo's lighter before lighting up and sighing as he took the first puff of it. It stilled the twitch in his fingers and calmed him immediately.

Shizuo chuckled lightly at Izaya's actions before just leaning against the back of the couch again. _Ah. I just realized. Neither of us has eaten yet._

Izaya only came back in when he had finished and went into his kitchen before starting to cook. He might be in Shizuo's body, but his cooking was universally good.

_That solves that problem._ Shizuo closed his eyes and waited for the food to be cooked. He wasn't going to mess with it or Izaya while he was cooking.

Izaya put the food on two plates handing one to Shizuo and sat down himself, taking a bite.

Shizuo took the plate without saying anything, and started to eat. It was good, and tasted even better seeing as it was food that Izaya liked.

Izaya frowned a little though, it tasted different. Like sugar should be added and it should be drunk with milk instead of tea like he usually had.

Shizuo glanced over to Izaya and nearly chuckled, though he didn't say anything. He knew that they're likes were reversed because of their body switch, that much was simple, but it didn't seem like Izaya fully got that yet.

Izaya knew it, he was just too stubborn. He would do what Shizuo did as best he could tomorrow but he only really knew how Shizuo acted when he was angry.

Soon enough, Shizuo finished with the food and set the plate aside. "That was great."

"It would be, you're in my body and I like my cooking... you want milk with it though... I hate milk..."

"Not as me you don't." Shizuo pointed out. "And as you, this tea is really good."

"I can hate milk and love it at the same time you know. I hate the idea of milk, if it's not cooked into something I hate it," Izaya frowned.

Shizuo just shrugged. "Milk is milk. It's a cold drink."

"Yes, but you want it badly. Me, no, it comes out of an animal's tit, no thank you." He shivered a little with a look of disgust.

"You know what? So does a mother's milk and you still drink that as a baby. So why don't you quiet being such a baby, flea?"

"I was weaned off for a reason, I'm not going to go drinking milk from a different animal because my mother quit feeding me hers," He huffed.

Shizuo laughed. It was amusing. Izaya was acting like a child. It didn't even matter that that was his body saying those words and doing those actions, it was still amusing.

"Ew, don't laugh with my body, that's creepy!" Izaya only ever chuckled, he never laughed. It sounded too... oh who even knew, it was weird though.

Shizuo laughed just a bit more before quieting down. That's when he got a thought. "Oi. You had me tell your secretary to leave for today. Won't she be back tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow is Saturday, Namie comes on weekdays." Izaya informed him. That gave them time to think on how to explain Shizuo being there.

"Alright. That works out then." Hmm. There was sleeping arrangements too. Shizuo wondered what they'd do about that. Would he sleep in a guest room? Then again, he was Izaya and all his changes of clothes would be in Izaya's room.

Izaya wasn't keen on letting Shizuo sleep in his bed but then... oh this was so confusing! "Ugh! I am using my room! Damn it, we both use my room! This is too confusing... oooh, I wanna be me again!"

Shizuo frowned. "I wanna be me again too flea. But we can't right now. So we both just gotta deal with it. And what was the sleeping situation?" Izaya had spoken fast at that part, so he didn't quiet catch it.

"We're sleeping together!" Izaya decided, heading upstairs again, "Ugh my back... your back hurts..."

Shizuo just shrugged as he followed after Izaya. Sleeping together? Fine. He was getting tired now anyway. Plus, arguing really wouldn't do much good. Izaya had the upper hand right now.

Izaya wandered into his room and then realized one very awkward truth. They would now know what the other looked like naked...

Shizuo, however, didn't really think of that at the moment. He was tired and wanted to sleep, which meant he needed Izaya's night clothes. "Oi. Flea. Where are your night clothes?"

Izaya pulled them out and tossed them over to Shizuo, black shorts and a gray hoodie. "I get cold easily; you'll need to bundle up more..."

"Eh? Fine. Guess that explains your jacket." He caught the clothes too, when Izaya tossed them. "Are we both changing in here?"

"Does it matter? You know the body I'm in and I know the one you're in, the embarrassing part is being in your body at all and seeing you..."

"Ah... right..." Shizuo looked away from Izaya, before taking the jacket off and letting it drop gently to the ground. It was inevitable with them having switched bodies, so best to just change quickly.

Izaya sighed, well, Shizuo was going to be polite, Izaya was going to investigate. He undid the vest slowly and then the shirt before looking for the sleepwear, sweatpants and a t-shirt. He wanted to change fast but watching himself undressing feet away was interesting.

Shizuo didn't even notice that Izaya was watching him... himself... him, whatever, undress. He lifted the shirt over head before letting it drop with the jacket. He took the hoodie next, putting it on before going to unbutton and remove the pants, before slipping the shorts on. There. Done and it hadn't been so bad.

Izaya headed into the bathroom with a grumble. If Shizuo asked he would say he had to pee but he really just wanted to see what Shizuo looked like with no clothing.

Shizuo glanced towards the now bathroom door before just shrugging it off, already assuming that Izaya was going to use the restroom. He yawned before scooping up Izaya's clothes and dumping them in the hamper.

Izaya stripped down and looked at the reflection in the mirror. It was so surreal, having the wrong face looking back at you. Shizuo was well built though, better than Izaya had expected and he was pretty well hung too. Izaya chuckled at that before pulling on clothing and flushing the toilet and washing his hands to make Shizuo think that he was actually just using the toilet before heading back out.

Shizuo just yawned a bit more before crawling into the bed. He was tired and sleepy. And he was cold. Damn. Izaya really couldn't hold body heat.

Izaya climbed in beside him. It was odd that Shizuo had gotten into Izaya's usual side of the bed. Shizuo seemed to be a furnace when he slept though.

Shizuo yawned for a third time before curling up in the blankets more, trying to get warm. "Night flea."

"Night protozoan..." He muttered back, closing his eyes and drifting off.

Shizuo closed his eyes and yawned before drifting off. Sometime during the night, Shizuo rolled over close to Izaya, snuggling him as he did so. His own body was oh so warm, and he often slept with the blanket thrown off of him. As Izaya, he was freezing though, and Izaya, as him, was the perfect source of warmth. Certainly more than the blankets, at least.

Shizuo's body was so warm... it was stifling to Izaya, now stuck in it and used to being perpetually cold, but his own body pressing against this one helped too, made blankets tolerable and as he slept arms wrapped around his own body.

Come morning, Shizuo yawned and opened his eyes to see nothing. His face was buried into... his own/Izaya's chest. _Huh? What the?_ But it was warm and comfy. He didn't want to move.

Izaya blinked, realizing that he was hugging someone... himself/Shizuo it seemed had snuggled up in the night... "Shizu-chan... this is odd..."

"Huh?" He moved away from Izaya, inwardly frowning at the loss of warmth. "Ah... yes. That was very odd."

"Hot shower, you'll warm up... I'm taking a cold one after; you're a damn furnace..."

"And you're a freezer!" Shizuo huffed before grabbing a change of clothes and heading towards the bathroom to take that hot shower.

"I know, tell me about it~" He smirked, watching Shizuo heading off in his body. Ah, it was so odd watching yourself... Shizuo rolled his eyes before actually walking into the bathroom and setting the clean clothes on the counter and starting the water so it could warm up. Izaya went to make breakfast, traditional despite the odd desire to make toast.

He probably wanted to make toast because Shizuo usually just had toast or cereal for dinner. After the shower, Shizuo got dressed and dried off his hair, and headed down to where Izaya was. He could smell the food and it smelled delicious. He knew it would be too.

Izaya served Shizuo and sat at the table, "Itadakemasu" He mumbled, before digging in.

Shizuo glanced up at Izaya before taking a bite of food. "Itadakemasu." The food was delicious. Well, it was Izaya's taste and his cooking so it would be.

And something that hit the spot though Izaya realized that Shizuo's body would quickly get used to this. He frowned then though, when he was finished the meal he wanted to smoke. "Do you smoke after every meal?"

"Yeah. Why? Feel the need to?" It was true he smoked to calm down, but he had also gotten addicted to the taste of nicotine in his mouth.

"Yes, it's irritating. You smoke after every meal, so that's three, the when you get annoyed, what do you go through, a pack a day?"

Shizuo shrugged. "Depends on what happens throughout the day. It can be anywhere from half a pack to two packs."

"Two?! You know how many are in one of these?!"

Shizuo shrugged. "A dozen?"

"Twenty four! You have a tendency to smoke between twelve and forty two of these a day! Ugh, I am cutting you back!"Izaya would not be smoking that much, it was bad enough needing to even once already

"I said between a half a pack to two. Depends on how my day goes." Shizuo shrugged. "And I don't think it'll matter if you cut me back. I'll probably smoke that much again when my day gets tense."

"Ew... if your day gets tense in my body and you smoke I swear, I will never, ever let you forget it" Izaya's body had never had anything more toxic than the odd glass of wine or sake and he was not going to let Shizuo change it.

"Unless you keep cigarettes around the place, I' think it'll be fine. And you should probably go and meet up with Tom now. I'll stay here."

"Right..." He stood and headed out, "I'll be back later... you have your number and I have your phone so... if something happens call me alright?"

Shizuo rolled his eyes. "Fine. But I doubt something will happen if I stay put here in your house. Now go flea. Before Tom calls."

Izaya left but before he did he took one thing he refused to go without. His beloved knife.

Shizuo scowled at that. He didn't carry knives around. And he certainly didn't have skills with them. But Izaya had already left so he guessed he had to deal with it. "I just hope the flea doesn't mess up. I tried not to when dealing with his client." Izaya would try to anyways, and not smoking helped since it was irritating Izaya enough to shorten his own long fuse.

Tom spotted Shizuo and raised a hand in greeting. "Yo. You were almost late, Shizuo." Tom just grinned at him though. "Anyway. Ready to go?"

"Yeah, sorry," Izaya tried to sound like Shizuo did and he did a good job too for now.

"It's fine. Come on. Let's go." Tom started to walk in the direction of the home of their first client for the day. Izaya followed, hands in Shizuo's pockets as he walked silently.

Soon enough, they arrived at the clients place, and Tom knocked on the door, waiting for an answer. When there wasn't one, Tom knocked some more. "Hey. Answer already!"

Izaya let Tom do his thing for now but he figured Shizuo would bust the door in soon too.

Tom let out an irritated sigh and turned to Shizuo. Izaya had figured right. "Shizuo. Can you help with this?"

"Yeah..." Izaya wondered how Shizuo activated that monster strength... Shinra said it was mentality too so then... Izaya used all the strength he could muster to kick the door open. Fortunately it was enough to actually open it as Shizuo would be strong even without the super duper retard strength he also had.

"Thanks." Tom walked into the apartment before looking around and finding another locked door. "Alright Shizuo. This one too. This guy is hiding. Probably doesn't have his money."

Huh, so most people avoided them? No wonder... Izaya was irritated though, this craving had gotten worse and so he was annoyed. Not too hard to pull off Shizuo's character then... and Shizuo, it seemed, had a hypersensitive sense of smell. "Try under the couch," Izaya growled.

"Huh? Alright then Shizuo." Tom walked over to the couch and checked under it. And sure enough, there he was. "Alright buddy, you either pay us or Shizuo can rough you up a bit first."

"Ehh?! I-I'll pay! Just, I don't have it now!

Tom sighed as he stood. "That isn't an answer, buddy. If you don't have it then..." Tom glanced over to Shizuo, or rather, Izaya.

Izaya made sure to look angry, growling slightly and the man immediately remembered that he did in fact have money and paid up quickly.

Tom just chuckled as they left, pocketing the money for when they finished the day and could turn it in. "Alright. Let's head to the next one." And Tom started walking towards the place.

Izaya followed, still quietly but the need for a smoke was rising higher than ever. Izaya refused it all the same though, determined not to give in to it.

Soon enough, they arrived at the next clients place. Again, the door was locked. "Shizuo, could you?"

"Yeah..." He kicked again and again it busted open to reveal the guy in the tree. Tom sighed and shook his head. "If he decides to stay in the tree, could you get him out? I'll wait by the window, and you can go be by the tree in case he tries to escape."

"Right, going outside then..." Izaya went outside to wait at the bottom of the tree and looked up.

Sure enough, there was the client, hiding in the branches of the tree. From the window, Tom called out to him. "There's no way to go. I'm here and Shizuo's waiting at the bottom of the tree. If you don't just pay up, I can't guarantee that you won't get hurt."

"Ahh? I will! I will! I just need some time man, c-come on!" Izaya growled and tested Shizuo's limits now, one hand resting on the trunk before shaking it gently causing it to shake.

The man yelped and clung to the tree. Tom sighed and shook his head. "Do you really want more time? You deal with Shizuo if you do, and he already seems irritated." Izaya growled up at him now.

"I-I can't pay! I really can't! I'm sorry! I can in a week, just one week, please!" He whimpered.

"I can't do that. This is my, and Shizuo's, job, collecting debts."

"I know! And-and I'll pay! I will! B-but I can't this week! I have to get paid before I can pay you right? I-I get paid next week!" Izaya sighed and stopped shaking the tree to see if Tom was going to let it slide this time. After all if he delayed a second time it would be much worse when they came back.

"You said that last week. What happened to the paycheck you were supposed to get this week?" Ah so that was the case.

"The... the other people I owe got here f-first... they took all of it, I'm sorry!" He whimpered. Huh... was this empathy Izaya was feeling? Shizuo's body though and he would know the others emotions to a degree. Izaya didn't care but in this situation he knew Shizuo would.

Tom sighed and shook his head. "I'm sorry. But we can't just let this go. You've been given a warning. Now either give us the money or something of great value."

"I-I haven't got anything, I..." The man was positively shaking at this point.

"Eh... Tom...?" Izaya knew at this point Shizuo would say something, besides which... The man's reactions told Izaya he was telling the truth.

"Yeah Shizuo?" Tom glanced out the window and down to Izaya.

"He's tellin' the truth, lets come back next week then... OI! When d'you get paid?"

"Ah?! Th-the fifteenth!"

"Right, so let's come back then... if he ain't got it then I'll send him to Okinawa"

Tom sighed but nodded. "Alright. This is your last chance buddy. Got it?"

"Y-yeah. I got it."

Izaya took his hand off the tree with a sigh and stuck his hands in his pockets while he waited for Tom to come down.

And Tom came right down. "Alright. To the next." The whole day was pretty much like the first two clients as well.

Izaya made it until noon before lighting up and then until four, meaning he at least cut back a great deal.

"You seem calmer than usual, Shizuo." Tom noticed it too.

"Not really, trying to cut back is all..." He grumbled. After all, Izaya did manage to wrench a sign from the ground earlier when someone had been saying he was truly in love... with a host.

"Ah. Guess that makes sense. Too many of those will kill ya." Tom smiled at Shizuo, before patting his shoulder. "Anyway. We only have one more client then you can head home."

"Alright..." Izaya agreed. Damn, this was going to suck. He had to do Shizuo's job which was physical, but now he had his own job too as Shizuo couldn't possibly be an informant. This was going to be exhausting...

Tom smiled and started walking. "I just hope this guy is there. He's slipped away from us several times."


	4. Chapter 4

"Ah, right, this one..." Izaya pretended to know who it was. "So what's the plan then?"

"Well, I was thinking you go straight for the front door while I wait by the back window. You can search around and I'll get him if he's still there. If not, oh well. I guess we'll get him a different time."

"Yeah..." He agreed, heading out like Tom said when they got there. Soon enough Izaya returned with the man, holding him by the scruff of his neck.

Tom chuckled at the sight before going stern, and facing the man. "You've escaped this long enough. You can either repay the debt or spend some time in jail for stolen money."

"Ah? I-I would pay it but uhh... I can't, see, my wife, she's pregna-AHH?" Izaya turned him upside down so the money fell out of his pocket.

Tom sighed before scooping up the money. "You do know that I know you're single, right? Shizuo, you can set him down now. We got our payment. And then you can head home."

"Yeah..." He dropped the man unceremoniously in a pile. Then he sighed and lit up on his way back to Shinjuku.

Shizuo sighed. He was bored. Really bored. As Izaya, he had had a twinge of wanting to go out and watch people... but that was creepy and he'd already said he'd stay here. So, he was laying on the couch staring at the ceiling. Bored.

"I'm back..." Izaya sighed when he finally got home, immediately checking his computers and seeing what emails he had.

"Welcome back. How was pretending to be me, Flea?" Shizuo didn't get up from the couch. He was still bored and didn't see a point to get up.

"Irritating... I have to do both our jobs," Izaya scowled.

Shizuo just rolled his eyes. "Take a break from yours." Or maybe he could ask for time off. Though he never did.

"I can't take a break, have you ever tried to tell a Yakuza boss that you don't feel like working? Because it doesn't go over well!" Izaya snapped as he got to work.

Shizuo sighed and sat up. "Toss me my phone. Now flea."

Izaya sighed and handed it over, a little irritated. Okay, very irritated.

Shizuo immediately flipped open his phone and started to text Tom. If Izaya wouldn't quit work for a bit, he could. He sent Tom a text, asking if it was alright if he took a little vacation. Tom replied with an 'alright' and was curious as to why. Shizuo said he was feeling a bit overworked and some other stuff and Tom left it off there. Then he tossed his phone back to Izaya. "There. Now I have a vacation for a bit and you only have to do your job."

Izaya blinked and nodded before getting back to work. He wished he liked Ootoro like he used to... He was tempted to make Shizuo order it to see if Shizuo's body would accept it.

Shizuo laid back down on the couch, bored again. Yet, he didn't have anything do to.

Not Izaya's problem. Shizuo refused Izaya's day, hell, Shizuo couldn't live Izaya's life. Izaya's was far too different from the blonde's. Shizuo glanced at the clock before glancing at Izaya. "Oi. Flea. Go make something for us to eat. I'm hungry."

Izaya glared at him and then stormed into the kitchen to cook, "Fine. Fine! Do not blame me if I can't get the info on time and we get shot by a mob boss!"

"You're being dramatic, flea! We aren't gonna be shot if you don't get some information! They'd lose a valuable source of info and I doubt that just cause you stopped to cook and eat, you won't find said information!" Shizuo huffed before closing his eyes. He hated this, a lot.

Izaya frowned a little. Shizuo was right, he was being overdramatic. "You really should cut back smoking you know... couldn't even make it a whole damn day..."

"Tch. The smokes calm me down flea. So deal with it. It's not like as me you aren't used to the taste."

"It's still disgusting..." He grumbled as he cooked. Shizuo rolled his eyes before staring at the ceiling again. He needed a hobby or something.

"If you want you can play Xbox or whatever during the day..." Izaya offered as he set the table.

"I didn't think you'd be one to play video games, flea." Shizuo rolled onto his side as he waited for Izaya to finish cooking. "Sure. I don't see why not."

"I play them all the time," Izaya shrugged, "Either way we need to think of a way to explain your...er.. my presence here to Namie..."

"Then think of one. Or maybe we could just tell her."

"Well... you think too! I can't do all the work you know!"

"Just shut up and cook! I am thinking, stupid flea."

"It's done. Think and eat instead..."

Shizuo rolled his eyes before walking to the table. "Fine." He began to eat, not even thanking Izaya for cooking.

Izaya glared at him, "You're welcome," He said pointedly.

Shizuo rolled his eyes. "Fine. Thanks flea." He just wanted to eat right now. After all, he was hungry.

Izaya scowled a little and ate quietly. He really missed his old body, but for now he would see if he could think of why Shizuo would be at his place... if worst came to worse he could always say they were secret lovers.

Though that might not go over so well with Shizuo. In fact, he might blow if Izaya said that. But for now, they didn't have to worry about it. They just had to eat. And after a bit, Shizuo finished before bringing the dishes he used to the sink.

Izaya did as well, "I cooked, you clean," He grumbled.

Shizuo huffed angrily. But he really didn't think fighting against himself was a good idea. "Fine."

Izaya went back to work, quietly looking up things.

Shizuo rolled his eyes before going to was the dishes, grumbling as he did so. This really was just stupid. After he finished, he stretched and glanced over at the clock to see what time it is. It was just after seven now, but Izaya was going to be working for a while yet.

"Oi. Don't overwork yourself while you're me. I'm not used to sitting at a desk for hours on end just at the computer!"

"You don't want to get shot deal with it, I do and I'm perfectly fit you know..."

"You're me, not you. So shut it."

"Oh drop..." Izaya frowned, not exactly able to tell Shizuo to drop dead in his body.

Shizuo scowled before going to plop down on the couch. He wasn't tired yet, but he was bored again. Or, that's what he thought. After a bit of just sitting there, he found himself yawning and his eyes drooping. About ten minutes after that, he laid on his side on the couch and went to sleep.

Izaya worked late into the night and when he finished he sighed and lifted his body off the couch, carrying Shizuo to the bed.

Shizuo snuggled closer to Izaya too. He was warm and as Izaya, he was cold. Shizuo was sleeping peacefully and deeply too, and therefore wasn't awoken when Izaya moved him around.

Izaya changed Shizuo into sleep wear-it was his body after all, nothing to be embarrassed about- and then changed himself before climbing into bed, eyes closing. He was asleep in seconds.

Come morning, Shizuo slowly blinked himself awake. He didn't remember changing into night clothes, or getting into the bed... He yawned and sat up, before shivering. Damn it. Izaya really was cold. He didn't like it. With a huff, he got up, leaving Izaya to sleep as he went to grab a change of Izaya's usual outfit before heading to the bathroom. He was going to shower.

Izaya stayed right where he was, too tired to move. He had been doing too much the day before and Shizuo didn't stay up late often it seemed.

The latest Shizuo stayed up was eleven or so, and that was only if they had to track clients around the city. Usually he went to bed around eight or nine, if he could. Soon enough, Shizuo finished with his shower, dried off, and changed before heading back into the bedroom. He frowned, seeing Izaya's state, and poked him. "Oi. Flea. I told you not to work too hard in my body."

"Mmn, so let me sleep now then..." his voice was muffled and quiet, completely exhausted it seemed.

Shizuo scowled before poking Izaya again. "No. It's your own damn fault for staying up when I told you not too. Now get up, or you'll ruin my sleeping schedule."

"I already did, I'll be in worse shape if you don't let me fucking sleep!" He grunted in warning.

Shizuo growled angrily before huffing and stomping out of the room. Screw it! He'd just make some eggs and watch TV. Izaya could be lazy if he wanted. He'd fix his own sleeping schedule when he got his body back.

Izaya slept until noon before he got up, still obviously exhausted. He made coffee and took a sip, spitting it out before adding lots of sugar to it.

"'Bout time you got up, flea." Shizuo scowled at Izaya before turning back to the TV. He had washed his own stuff from dishes before putting them away. Though now he was getting a bit hungry for lunch.

"Urusai..." Izaya grumbled, making food now, though nothing fancy.

"Tch." Shizuo turned away from Izaya, focusing on the TV now. Damn flea. He could drop dead once they switched back.

"Here... eat..." Izaya handed food to Shizuo when he had finished cooking. It was omelet, but still good at least.

"Alright." Shizuo sighed before starting to eat. It was a silent meal, as well as a bit awkward. Izaya was mostly just tired though, but he decided he could go to bed sooner in the future too.

After he finished eating, Shizuo walked to the kitchen and set the dishes into the sink before walking back to the couch and plopping down. He really did need a hobby. It was boring just watching TV all the time.

"Wanna try video games?" Izaya asked, leaning back into the sofa.

"Huh? Oh. Guess so. What games do you have?"

"Um... lots... I have three systems you know..."

"Oh. Then just pick a random multi player game. I don't care."

Izaya grabbed one off the shelf at random and stuck it in to the console. It was a fighting game, Soul Caliber something...

Shizuo grabbed one of the controllers, leaving player one for Izaya. "Alright. Go the multi player battle. We fighting with teams or without?"

"Without, one character each," He said, setting the game up.

Shizuo shrugged. "Alright." He scrolled through the characters, wondering which he should pick.

Izaya picked a female one with two large circular weapons and waited on Shizuo.

Shizuo ended up picking Nightmare, cause he looked cool and he seemed powerful.

Izaya chuckled. Shizuo clearly didn't know the characters backstories very well but it didn't matter, the fight began.

Shizuo pretty much just bashed buttons. It was a cheap way to fight, but he hadn't played this game before and didn't know the character's moves.

Izaya's were more specific since he knew the combo lists but it didn't help him much against Shizuo's button mashing strategy.

With his button mashing strategy, Shizuo ended up winning the first round. "That was pretty easy."

"You button mashed! That's cheating!" Shizuo barely won it anyways. Izaya picked a different character this time.

Shizuo shrugged. "No its not. It's being cheap. Cheap isn't cheating." Shizuo shrugged again before going to switch characters too.

Izaya won the second round at least, though it was again barely.

"Eh. I'm bored of this now, Flea. Let's play a different game."

"Eh? Fine. Mario party," Izaya hooked up a different system now with a huff. He got that one set up soon enough.

"Alright. That works." Once the character select screen showed up, Shizuo went ahead and picked Yoshi.

Izaya chose Boo since it was the Wii version. Otherwise Izaya would have fought for Yoshi for sure.

"Alright, which level are we playing?"

"Umm... This one..." Izaya chose the hardest one of all and turned on the Bonus stars.

Shizuo shrugged. "How many turns? Ten? Twenty? Or fifty?"

"Twenty, ten is too short, fifty takes forever..." Izaya started them up.

Shizuo shrugged. "Alright then. Let's play."

Izaya rolled his dice at a perfect ten.

_I bet he practices so he knows exactly when to get that._ Shizuo ended up getting a one, meaning he went last.

Izaya did, but it meant nothing, he still rolled all over the map like Shizuo did during the game.

After a bit, it was finally the last round. Time to see who the winner was. Both computers had zero stars, Shizuo had four, Izaya had three. Then it was time for the bonus starts. "You could still win, flea."

Izaya gritted his teeth and waited. First bonus star went to... Shizuo. Second Bonus star went to Shizuo... and then the third went to... Shizuo... Izaya frowned.

Shizuo blinked a bit. "Huh. Guess I win flea. The bonus stars didn't matter. I would have won anyway."

"Damn it..." Izaya mumbled, next was a different fighting game, then a racing game and Shizuo won them all.

Eventually, Shizuo just sighed. "I'm bored of games, flea. This isn't a challenge."

"How are you winning them all?!" He huffed.

"I guess I'm more skilled at games then you. I have played quite a few."

"Ugh..." Izaya glared at him and huffed, "Fine, let's play something else then..."

"Like what?" Shizuo huffed a bit. This really did suck, being each other.

"Mmn... Risk?"

"What's that?"

"It's a strategy board game, you try and take over the world"

"That seems tedious." And not very interesting, at least to Shizuo.

"Eh? Not even gonna try?" Izaya won that game every time. "Fine, how about something like chess? Much simpler ne?"

"I dunno how to play chess." Shizuo shrugged.

"It's straightforward really, you have two sides. Pawns can move only forward and only one space at a time unless they're in their starting position, but to attack another piece they can move only in a single diagonal square. Get that?"

Shizuo nodded. "Yeah."

"Okay, so the back pieces get more complicated, let's start outside in... This piece is the rook, you can move it any number of spaces, but only in one direction and only in a straight line, vertical or horizontal, got that?"

Shizuo nodded again. "Alright. That seems simple enough."

"Okay, now this horse head is called the knight. It moves in an L shape like this." He demonstrated how to move the piece properly for Shizuo.

"Alright. The knights like an 'L', the rooks horizontally and vertically, and pawns one space. Got it."

"Now this is the Bishop. He's similar to the rook, unlimited spaces, but he moves diagonally instead like this.

"So the bishop is always on the color it starts on, right?"

"Yes, that's correct. Now the King and Queen. The queen can move in any direction without turning, diagonal or horizontal or vertical. She's very useful."

Shizuo nodded. "Alright. And the King is the most important piece then, right?"

"Yes. If you lose the King the game ends. If your opponent puts your king into check you can only move your king or any piece that will get him out of check. If they call checkmate though you have no escape, the game ends."

"Alright. That seems simple enough. I'll play it with you."

"Excellent~" Izaya set them up. "White always moves first so to pick... "He grabbed a black pawn and a white pawn and hid them behind his back. "Pick which hand, that's the color you get.

Shizuo frowned, thinking for a moment. "I pick right. What color is it?"

Izaya held out his right hand and opened it to reveal a white pawn. That was fine, Izaya preferred the black anyways.

"Alright. This means I go first, right?"

"Yes," Izaya returned the pawns to the correct positions and sat.

"Alright then." Shizuo sat and observed the board. Which piece would he move first? After a bit of though, he moved one of his knights from space g1 to h3.

Izaya's move next... the game went on but in just ten moves Izaya smirked and moved his queen into position, "Checkmate"

Shizuo scowled. "This game is stupid."

"Heh, no, you just aren't used to it, want some tips?"

"No. It's stupid and I don't want to play it anymore."

"Heh, alright, but the goal isn't to just get to the other side you know... you want to control the middle of the board instead and remove your opponents best pieces without giving up your own"

"Tch. Whatever." Shizuo got up and walked back over to the couch before plopping down on it. "Chess is a stupid and boring game."

"It's about strategy Shizu-chan... you can't just wing it like video games... checkers might be more your speed..."

"I don't care. I'm done playing."

"So then, what now?" Izaya asked, moving to his own game and moving a couple of pieces around.


	5. Chapter 5

"Dunno. I want some fresh air, but I don't think with how much you're hated that that'd be a good idea."

"Probably not... there's the deck or the building roof,"

"I'll go to the roof." Shizuo huffed before getting up and heading towards the door so he could go up and get some fresh air.

"Alright, staircase, make sure the door doesn't close behind you," If Shizuo wasn't back in an hour Izaya was going to go looking for him.

"Tch. Whatever." Shizuo just waved Izaya off before taking the stairs and relaxing up on the roof. The fresh air really was something. It was great. Especially since Shizuo was used to be out and about outside, not stuck inside all day. Izaya's body however was more used to a computer all day with the odd run through Ikebukuro being chased. He was fit, certainly though he was also pale and he burned easily.

Shizuo sighed as he leaned against the fence that stopped you from falling off the roof. This was just really annoying and stupid. It would have just been easier to put them together in some sort of controlled environment then to make them switch bodies. Or at least make it easier for them. Something like that.

There was no helping it though. All the same an hour later Izaya came up, "Oi... I burn you know, get back inside..."

"Tch. Fine." Shizuo huffed lightly before walking back inside and heading to Izaya's part of the building. Once he got back, he just plopped down on the couch.

Izaya sighed softly, his mind a blank as he followed the other inside. He didn't know what else to do so finally he turned to Shizuo, "So tell me about yourself"

"Eh? Why?"

"Celty said we switched back when we got along and learned to like each other, we may as well start now."

"Tch. Fine. Ask me about what you wanna know."

"What's your favorite color?"

"Blue. Like an ocean blue."

"What about movies? What kind do you like?"

"I don't really go out to the movies. Though I do end up watching all of Kasuka's."

"Creepy. Okay, books! Do you read?"

"It isn't creepy and no. I don't really read."

"Your favorite memory," Izaya frowned a little.

"Hm." Shizuo frowned a bit too, before leaning back against the couch and closing his eyes. Favorite memory... "I guess my favorite memory would probably be a tie between remembering when I made friends with everyone who's my friend."

So Shizuo was the sentimental type then, huh? Cute... "I see..."

"Tch. Whatever. Ask your next question."

"Worst thing you ever did?"

"Tch." Shizuo scowled. He wasn't gonna tell Izaya he nearly killed his brother when he was nine. "I pass."

"And if someone asks me? I can't say I don't know if you should," He pointed out, "Besides, you can ask me anything too"

"I don't know anyone who would ask me what the worst thing I ever did was."

Izaya frowned at him, "Really? It is information I need if I'm going to be you though you know, it could affect how I'm supposed to interact with some people"

"It won't affect anything, alright?" Shizuo growled that out angrily. "You don't need to know it."

"Must be pretty bad then... what'd you do, throw your fridge at Kasuka?" Izaya was only teasing of course.

"..." Damn fucking stupid flea.

"Wait... you mean you did?" Izaya was actually shocked.

"..." It would have killed Kasuka too, had he been able to hold it without his bones breaking.

"Wow... hmm, that is bad, fine, your turn then~"

Shizuo just scowled before getting up from his spot on the couch and walking up the bedroom. "No. I'm done flea. Go work or something."

"Mm? No good Shizu-chan, if you don't know about me how will you fool my secretary on Monday hmm?"

"I'll just tell her. Then she can leave me alone and bug you. There we go. That's why you, or rather me, is here."

"We can't tell her!" He snapped.

"Why the hell not?!" Shizuo turned back away to glare at Izaya. "She's gonna be back tomorrow anyway. And there's no way in hell I'll ever be able to act like you!"

"I had to act like you! Or should we just tell everyone? I mean my plan was we know each other's likes and dislikes, tell Celty we get it and switch back. You stop throwing vending machines when you see me and she'll never know!"

Shizuo felt his eye twitch. "You're acting like Celty is dumb! I know she wants us to get along, but just that won't cut it! Think to earlier, we were fine playing those stupid games, and now we're fighting!" Shizuo huffed before going up the stairs to the bedroom, not staying to listen to what Izaya might say next.

People who got along sometimes fought though and he knew at least that she wouldn't watch them every minute of the day. They only had to get along when she was around for his plan to work.

Shizuo didn't think that would work though. There'd still be word of their fighting and Celty could arrive while they were. For the moment though, Shizuo was closed for discussion, and even slammed the bedroom door shut in his anger. _Stupid. Everything is just stupid and fucked up._

Izaya sighed softly, going to work but eventually he came up to bed too, much earlier than the night before. Shizuo had already changed into night clothes and was curled up under the covers, trying to sleep. His eyes were closed and his breathing even, though he wasn't asleep yet. He heard Izaya come in and get ready for bed. _Damn Flea's body used to being up. At least he isn't ruining my sleeping schedule any more._

Izaya sighed, "I know you're not asleep Shizu-chan, I usually go to bed later than you," He frowned.

Shizuo scowled. "Shut up. I'm trying to sleep."

Izaya rolled his eyes and finished changing. "Whatever... you're just making going to bed awkward now..." He grumbled, climbing into the other side of the bed.

"I'm not doing anything, flea." Shizuo huffed. "Just go to sleep." Izaya sighed and closed his eyes. He was soon sound asleep too.

Shizuo huffed and moved closer to the side. Damn it! Stupid flea being so cold. He shivered lightly before huffing again and closing his eyes. After a bit, he was asleep. And during his sleep, he scooted closer to Izaya so he could be warm.

Izaya chuckled a little, one arm wrapping around his own body to keep it warm. Hell, he wrapped both arms around the other and only then allowed himself to drift off.

The next morning, Namie came in for work. Upon entering Izaya's office/living room area, she scowled. Of course her boss would still be asleep. He'd been acting weird on Friday. Still, she needed to work and for that she needed Izaya. So with a light little huff, she walked up the stairs and to Izaya's bedroom, and pushed open the door to wake her boss, only to see both Shizuo and Izaya cuddled close and asleep. Sound asleep. Of course Namie was not about to pass up such an opportunity.

"Oh Orihara-san~" She called loudly, smirking.

Shizuo frowned a bit him his sleep, before burring his head into Izaya's chest so that anything Namie said was muffled. He was comfy and being Izaya or not, if he was comfortable in his sleep, he did not want to be woken.

Izaya however opened one eye and scowled. Damn, this was the most compromising possible position she could have found them in. "Wake up idiot..." He grumbled Shaking Shizuo gently.

"Let me sleep." Shizuo grumbled and swatted at Izaya, not even noticing that Namie was in the room or that Izaya had called him an idiot.

"Well, I would Orihara-san, but there is the matter of my catching you in bed with your worst enemy to attend to..." Damn it. Izaya wanted to answer but he didn't want to tell Namie who was who.

Huh? That didn't sound like himself or how Izaya talked. He blinked a few times before sitting up and spotting Namie, Izaya's secretary or whatever it was. Oh... shit. That was _not_ good.

"I want a years salary to keep my mouth shut and stat holidays off~" She decided quickly, and Izaya couldn't stop himself.

"No way, I'm never paying you that much! Besides I don't take them off, you don't get 'em either!" Oops... he said it from Shizuo's body.

Shizuo scowled. "Great going flea." He only said this now because Izaya had already messed up.

"Oh be quiet you protozoan, you're the one who couldn't even get up..." He huffed. Namie frowned at the two.

"Hang on, did you switch bodies or something?"

Shizuo crossed his arms and huffed. "Yes."

"Interesting..."

"That's why we're both here... he's in my body so he has to meet the clients I usually have but I need to do the work they want. He can't, it would get us both killed..."

"The flea wanted to hide it, but that didn't work out." Shizuo huffed. "And he has that point."

"At any rate it's simpler for us to live together until this all gets sorted out ne?" Izaya huffed and Namie scowled.

"Well then, a year's salary to stop me saying Shizuo and Izaya shared a bed together.

"Not happening..."

Shizuo scowled. "Just pay it to her, flea. You have more than enough money." And he didn't want to start up rumors or have that otaku girl, Erika or whatever, to go ballistic.

"Yeah, if you just pay me-"

"Or I could tell everyone all those things you don't want out there? Like your first career path and how you worked your way up, what your major area of study was and not to mention your love interest at this time? I'm sure he would be interested in finding out you like him so much. And let's not forget-"

"Enough! I get it... fine," She glared at him before stalking out of the room.

"Mmn, well, that takes care of that problem..."

"That was mean flea. Effective though."

"Hmm? I am mean, but what do you expect? She poisons my tea!" Izaya flopped back down.

"Maybe she does that because you're mean. She works for you. Be nicer to her." Shizuo got up and stretched before heading to the closet and grabbing a change of clothes.

Izaya scowled and got out of bed, changing clothing too for the day. He was up, may as well.

Shizuo quickly changed before heading down the stairs and plopping down on the couch. It was awkward now. Namie was there.

"Ah, so you're Heiwajima-san then?" She asked, frowning a bit. It was odd knowing that her boss wasn't the one looking back at her. At any rate Izaya was definitely not Izaya with how Shizuo acted.

"Yeah. I am." It was strange to them both just being each other and not being able to act like themselves outside. Annoying too.

"Well then, I'm Yagiri, Namie. It's a pleasure to meet you," She was perfectly polite to Shizuo.

"Ah. Yeah. Nice to meet you." Different than on Friday when she thought he was Izaya.

"Well, I hope you two sort out whatever this is soon... do you at least know how it happened?" She asked curiously, sitting next to Shizuo.

Shizuo leaned back against the couch. "Yeah. We know how it happened. Celty did it cause we were fighting. Said we had to get along before we'd get back to normal."

"I see... that might be hard... I've tried getting along with that bastard but it's impossible. He's impossible..."

"Tch. The flea keeps wanting to fake through it, and doesn't seem to listen to me when I tell him Celty isn't that stupid."

"Yes, he is the type to try it though. Still, if she won't fall for it then there isn't any point in trying right?" Namie sighed softly, feeling for Shizuo. She didn't give a rat's ass what happened to Izaya, but Shizuo deserved better,

"Tch. That's why I'm not. Besides. Celty is my friend. I'm not gonna lie to her like that."

"I see... you still like her even after this?"

"Huh? Ah, well yeah. I mean, we were destroying her home with the fighting, and got her mad. I'm not gonna hate her because of this, even if it's stupid and annoying as hell."

"You're a good friend," She smiled a little, pleased with his reasoning. If only Izaya were half as sensible...

"Well I don't have that many friends. Be stupid to lose one over something like." Shizuo shrugged and closed his eyes. "Besides, Celty is a good friend too."

"Mm... I should get to work before he gets down here..." She decided, getting up again and starting to clean up around the apartment.

Shizuo sighed and let her, before closing his eyes. She seemed kind enough. Izaya probably didn't see it cause he was a bastard.


	6. Chapter 6

Izaya came down then and got to work making breakfast though he was remarkably quiet too. He could be a bastard, but then most people never treated him nice from the start, including Namie. He didn't see why he should have to be the one making all the effort. No one had ever bothered to try getting to know him.

Even Shizuo had been mean to Izaya first. But that didn't matter at the moment. After Izaya was finished cooking breakfast, Shizuo ate before returning to the couch, once again bored.

"Play a video game or something" Izaya suggested as he got to work. There were only two people Izaya was regularly nice to. Though they counted themselves as one... No one else in this world though had earned it.

"Tch." Shizuo rolled his eyes before turning on the TV. He didn't feel like playing a video game. So TV would do.

Izaya didn't care what Shizuo did so long as Izaya could concentrate and he paused only for tea and lunch.

Eventually, Shizuo did start playing a video game. TV got boring. He couldn't really talk with anyone and he couldn't go outside. This really did suck. It was just strange and he didn't like it.

"I have to go out and get things..." Izaya sighed. He couldn't speak to his usual sources like this, it had to come through a longer line and that irritated him.

"Like what?" Shizuo paused the game now. "And how come?" It better not be stuff he usually wouldn't get.

"Information. Don't worry, I'm doing it anonymously, they won't see me... or you..."

Shizuo huffed. "Fine. They better not."

Izaya left but it was half an hour later when someone knocked on the door.

Shizuo growled a bit before pausing the game and looking towards the door. He probably shouldn't answer it. Namie wasn't getting it either and Izaya didn't know whomever was there was coming... so turn the TV off, game still paused and pretend he wasn't there. That would work. And that's just what Shizuo did.

"Iza-nii!" Came a voice on the other side. "Open uuuup! We know you're in there~!" It was Mairu meaning Kururi was there too.

Shit. The twins. Hmmm. Answer them or no? How did Izaya even act around his sisters? ...A jerk? He didn't know. Time to figure it out. Mairu picked the lock and came in with her sister right behind her.

"Iza-nii..." Kururi mumbled in greeting. "Iza-niii~! Surprise!" Mairu grinned.

Let's see. Fifty-fifty chance, right? Probably a jerk since that's how he treated everyone else so... "Why are you two brats here?" And now he felt bad...

They both blinked at him. "Mood..." Kururi frowned curiously and Mairu waited for the reply. Izaya understood Kururi's one-word sentences well after all, but only her siblings did.

"..." Mood? Crap... Uh... Shizuo didn't know what that could mean. Usually Mairu told him what Kururi was saying whenever he met up with them. But she knew Shizuo didn't speak 'Kururi' too.

"Iza-nii? You feeling okay?" Mairu asked. "Not... imposter..." Kururi mumbled nervously then, staring at Shizuo.

Okay. So Izaya treated his sisters nice. He had made a mistake and now they knew something was up. Despite what he could have done to try to save himself, Shizuo just stayed silent.

It made things worse though. It was only saved when Shizuo -or rather Izaya- walked in. He froze though and gulped. Ohhh... this was bad.

Call Izaya, Izaya, or Shizu-chan? Well, maybe he could save it. After all, if 'he' was there, it was evident that he wasn't feeling well. So... "Welcome back, Shizu-chan."

"Er... right..." He coughed and the twins frowned.

"Sick?" Kururi asked now, looking at Shizuo and feeling his forehead.

"You must be if Shizuo-san is here... Shizuo-san you're nice, you hate Iza-nii and you still take care of him~ Oh! Wait, this means you're secretly lovers riiiight~?"

Shizuo spluttered at Mairu's claim. Lovers?! "Hell no! We're not lovers!" Was he blushing? He was pretty sure he was blushing.

Izaya had been expecting it but then they were constantly buying things for him to wear so he could 'seduce Shizuo' as they put it.

"Don't be idiots," Izaya growled much like Shizuo would.

"Then why are you here, Shizuo-san?"

"Hiding?" You hiding something?

Shizuo stayed silent again. After all he didn't have an answer for that question.

"I ain't hiding nothing... he's sick and Shinra said I had to take care of him or he's dissect me."

"But you can beat up the strange doctor. What's stopping you from doing that? And what's Iza-nii sick with?"

"Knew. Can't." He knew what I was saying. Shizuo can't understand me. "That's right Kururi..."

Shit... wait they knew Shizuo? "Oh fine, we switched bodies! I'm Izaya, Shizuo's in my body!" Izaya huffed, going into the kitchen.

"Shizuo-san is Iza-nii?" Mairu asked as she turned to Shizuo.

"Uh. Yeah." He hadn't known Izaya was nice to his sisters and Izaya didn't know that he knew them. So there went that.

"So, how long have you known my sisters anyways?" Izaya asked as he returned with some cookies for the twins. Their favorite ones too, though Izaya thought they tasted terrible. It seemed Shizuo liked them though.

"A year or two. Dunno exactly." Shizuo shrugged. Must have seemed weird for the twins to see Izaya acting as Shizuo and vice versa, though they were told why.

They were getting over it though as they munched the cookies Izaya only had because they liked them.

"Shizuo-san, Iza-nii... how did you switch bodies anyways?"

"Celty-san got mad at us..." Izaya shrugged.

"You mean the headless rider?"

Shizuo nodded. "Yeah. Her."

"Cool!" Both twins grinned. "Wait. Iza-nii and Shizuo switched bodies... That makes Shizuo our brother now." She grinned at that statement.

"Yes, but that doesn't make Kasuka related to you," Izaya warned with a sigh.

"Awwwww." The twins both seemed disappointed by that and Shizuo just sighed.

"Ah... I think I know how they know you now..." Izaya sighed and sat down at his computer.

"Is there a reason you two came over today?" He asked casually.

"We wanted to see Iza-nii." Mairu grinned before hugging Shizuo. "Who is him."

Izaya pouted, "He is not, don't be mean..." He grumbled.

"Lonely..." Kururi mumbled and then hugged Izaya since she knew Izaya didn't like being teased like that. Mairu did too, she did it anyways.

Shizuo sighed before lightly shaking his head. That was actually a bit adorable, even if it did seem like the twins were hugging him and not Izaya.

Izaya was very different with his sisters, though a bit reserved too. Still he was actually nice.

_Hmm. Guess his sisters are people he thinks he should be nice to. Ah, better let them talk then._ Silently Shizuo stood and made his way upstairs so that Izaya and his sisters could spend some time together.

Once he was gone Izaya relaxed and spent time with his sisters until they left and only then went up to find Shizuo.

Shizuo had actually found a DS and was laying on Izaya's bed playing a Kirby game. He didn't actually notice Izaya there either.

Izaya chuckled and smirked, "Shizu-chan," He called to get his attention.

"Huh?" Shizuo paused the game and sat up. "What do you want flea?"

"Downstairs is safe again, the demon twins went home," He waved a hand dismissively and headed back out.

_Demon twins? That's how he classifies people he's nice to? Wow._ Shizuo sighed though before bringing the DS down and sitting on the couch before starting to play again. Damn, he was really bored.

Well, they could be demonic. Still, had he seen how Izaya had acted when Shizuo wasn't around it would have been obvious that he was very capable of being a nice person. But again, he was only kind to those who showed him kindness and only respectful to those who showed him respect. Most people though had been rude to him his whole life though and so he was rude and cynical right back.

"Oi. Flea. When are we gonna have lunch?" Or dinner. Depended on the time. Shizuo didn't actually know how long the twins had been there, so he didn't know if it was time for lunch or dinner next.

"Dinner, and I just made it so come get it," He frowned a little.

"Alright." Shizuo closed the DS and headed over to the table. The stuff looked delicious, plus the table was already set.

"Itadakemasu" Izaya said before helping himself.

"Itadakemasu." Shizuo mumbled before going ahead to eat. Again, it was really good. Though Shizuo knew it wouldn't really taste that good if he were him. So It didn't really taste that good to Izaya.

Although Shizuo's pallet was becoming accustomed to it at this point and Izaya was delighted to find that the food tasted better and better as he got Shizuo used to it. It was also easier to avoid smoking since he had bought patches so he wouldn't have to smoke in Shizuo's body.

When they were both done, Shizuo took both their plates. "I'll wash the dishes. Seeing as I'm bored, this'll give me something to do. And you can do some work, seeing as you couldn't while your sisters were here."

"Alright... if you want things to do though you can read or ask questions or whatever..." Izaya pointed out as he went to his computer to resume what he had been working on.

Shizuo rolled his eyes and went to wash the dishes. He'd read later. Because he still wasn't in the mood for questions after Izaya had asked him about the worst thing he'd ever done.

Still, for some reason Izaya wasn't teasing Shizuo about it at all. In fact he was acting like he had no idea that Shizuo had done it and for one very good reason. The one time he had hurt Mairu and Kururi he hadn't been able to forgive himself either and in his opinion he'd done worse.

After a bit, Shizuo sighed and put away the last dish. "Oi. Flea. Recommend any of these books?" He was observing Izaya's bookshelf now. He'd prefer to read than to go back to watching TV, playing a video game, or doing nothing.

"Well, what do you enjoy reading?" Their minds were still the same so Shizuo would not enjoy Izaya's tastes in music or literature.

"I don't read much. Though I prefer fantasy fiction. Got anything like that?" It had to be in Japanese too. Shizuo didn't really know any other language.

Izaya frowned and stood up, walked along his shelf to one end and pulled out a book, "Here, try this," It was the translated copy and he hoped Shizuo hadn't read Harry Potter yet.

He hadn't. Shizuo took the book from Izaya before going back to sit at the couch and start reading. "Thanks."

Izaya returned to work knowing that would keep Shizuo busy for a while.

The book did keep Shizuo busy. He got into the story and started to read, not even noticing when it started to get really late.

"Shizu-chan... it's time for bed," Izaya yawned.

"Huh? Oh. Alright." Shizuo marked his spot in the book before setting it to the side, standing, and stretching. Then he made his way up to the bedroom and grabbed a change of Izaya's night clothes before changing and crawling into bed.

Izaya rolled his eyes as he changed and got in bed as well. "You like the book?" He asked casually.

"Yeah. It's interesting. Really good writing too." Shizuo curled up under the blanket, shivering a bit. He'd never get used to how cold Izaya got. Must be torture during winter.

"Mmn... come here..." Izaya wrapped Shizuo's arms around his own Shivering body to keep it -and Shizuo- warm.

Shizuo let out a small content breath now that he didn't feel so cold. "How do you stand being so cold all the time?"

"Heated mattress pad, hot showers, turning the thermostat up too high in winter and wearing a warm jacket all year round," Izaya said.

"...That is a lot just to stay warm."

"It's better than being cold. Haven't you ever wondered why you never see me in winter?"

"No. It was easier to not get angry if you weren't around so I decided not to question it."

"Mmn... well, now you know anyways..." Izaya closed his eyes.

"Yeah." Shizuo yawned before closing his eyes. "Mm. My eyes hurt now."

"You're tired. Sleep Shizu-chan..." Izaya mumbled, already halfway asleep himself.

Shizuo yawned again before nodding. "M-hm. I am." He curled just a bit closer to Izaya, so he could stay warm before falling asleep. Still, it was a step in the right direction anyways.

Shizuo yawned when he woke up before sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "Izaya." He shook Izaya. "Get up Izaya. Its morning."

"Mng, s'too early..." He grumbled sleepily, hugging the other a little closer.

"Ack! Izaya." Shizuo sighed. He couldn't get out of Izaya's grip with Izaya having his strength. Izaya didn't care, he was tired and he wanted more sleep.

Shizuo sighed again before attempting to wiggle out of the grip. If Izaya wanted to sleep, fine. But he wasn't tired and if he wasn't tired or sick, he didn't like staying in bed.

Izaya didn't even realize he was holding on to Shizuo so tight though, but once he drifted off the grip slackened and Shizuo was able to escape him.

_Finally._ Shizuo sighed before grabbing a set of clothes and heading to the bathroom for a nice warm shower.

Izaya remained asleep and would until Shizuo was done in the shower.

After about a half hour, Shizuo finally finished. He left the towel on his head as he exited, but he was fully dressed.

Izaya groaned and sat up to stare at the other than huffed and flopped back down.

"Oi. Izaya. You really should get up."

"Ugh... fine..." Izaya rolled out of bed and trudged into the bathroom with a change of clothing. There was a client this evening, Shiki again and Shizuo would have to do better. Though first, Izaya would have to tell Shizuo that Shiki was coming, and maybe even tell him when exactly to get the tea. Then again, Namie would be there, so she could help them out with that.

Once dressed he sat down beside Shizuo, "Shiki-san is coming over today with an assignment." He said his tone serious.

Shizuo sighed. "And I have to give him the information, right?"

"No. Not yet anyways. He's here to give me information on what he needs information on. I usually get one week for anything he needs though sometimes he needs it sooner. You have to meet with him and act like me. He'll give you all the details on paper anyways."

"Alright. What happens if he asks me stuff about what information I gave him last time he was here?"

"He won't, he never does," Izaya promised him. "He may say something like 'it was very useful' but he won't go into detail and he won't ask you to either."

"Alright then. Do I have to get the tea again... or get the tea seeing as I forgot last time?"

"Namie will be here this time for that, she knows how Shiki-san likes everything, just focus on acting cocky and respectful at the same time," That might be hard.

"Cocky and respectful... Tch. How the hell do I do that?! "

"Act like me but be respectful. No stupid nicknames, no being rude. If he asks if you can get it done say 'Of course~, who do you think you're talking to~?' alright?"

Shizuo sighed. "Alright. That seems simple. And call him Shiki-san, right?"

"Yeah. Try to get him in and out as fast as you can, the less time he's here the less likely it is that he will notice something is wrong," Izaya hoped Shizuo was up for it, "And stop using 'ore' when you refer to yourself, I only use 'watashi'!"

Shizuo sighed. "Alright, alright. When is 'Shiki-san' supposed to come over?"

"Four pm sharp. He was only ever late once due to traffic so he should be on time."

Shizuo sighed. "Alright. So get ready three forty-fiveish? And we should probably eat breakfast."

"Yes to both," Izaya said before getting up and cooking the morning meal. Today he kept it simple and made rice porridge. Shizuo sat down as Izaya served the food before beginning to eat.

Izaya ate quietly, starting to get used to having Shizuo around. Still, it would be nice to be recognized for the nice things he was doing for the other like feeding him and keeping him alive and warm at night.

Then again, if Shizuo died, then Izaya died. Celty had told them that they were connected like this. Shizuo, honestly, just didn't think to thank Izaya for the food and keeping him warm at night. Though he had thanked him for getting him the book to read yesterday. "...I should probably learn some stuff about you, huh?"

"It might be wise," Izaya agreed as he stretched out when he finished the meal.

"Alright... What's your favorite color and why?"

"Favorite color?" Damn that was kind of embarrassing, "Pink. It's calming."

_Huh. Didn't expect that from Izaya_. "Okay... favorite... animal? Again, I wanna know why."

"Dogs because they're always happy to see someone and they listen,"

"I would have assumed cats but oh well. Okay... fear."

"You'll have to be more specific," Izaya frowned. He had more than one but only one was something that truly terrified him.

"Okay... What are some of your biggest fears?"

"My two worst fears are death and... and the eyes of a dead fish..."

"Death I can understand... but why dead fish eyes?"

"I can't help it! They stare; it's creepy as hell alright?" Izaya shivered just thinking about them.

"Okay then... What do you think your greatest accomplishment is?"

"Ah, that one I tell no one~" He smirked.

Shizuo rolled his eyes. "Fine. How 'bout this. You asked me so I ask you. What's the worst thing you've done?"

He frowned a little, "Hurt Mairu and Kururi," He answered honestly. He didn't hurt them himself, but because of him they had been in danger.

"You hurt them...?"

"Not directly... informants have a lot of enemies though... before I didn't pretend to hate them in public and someone tried to kill them to get to me... they had broken Kururi's arm and Mairu's leg when I got there... they were just eight at the time, they didn't understand what was happening but I... it was my fault,"

"Were you new to being an informant at the time?"

"I was seventeen then... so yeah, I was... still, I knew I would make enemies and that they might come after people I cared about... all the same I'm their older brother, I'm meant to protect them, not put them in harm's way. So that is the worst thing I've ever done,"

"It wasn't on purpose and judging by how they acted when they were over, I'd say they don't blame you for that." Shizuo paused for a moment. "Why'd you even become an informant broker?"

Izaya frowned and thought, "It wasn't my first choice of careers... it's easy to do though and I make my own hours... plus at the time I needed the money and once you're in you're in for good."

"That's stupid. You should have worked odd jobs or something. I did that for awhile before I found a way to get a steady job. ...Or somewhat steady." Working with Tom was his only steady job.

"I had to live on my own and raise my sisters. They live separate from me now in a place I rent for them under a different name," He explained.

"Why did you have to live alone? And why rent your sisters a place under a different name?"

"Different name so no one knows I care enough to... and I didn't have much choice, remember that month of school I missed when you were seventeen?"

"Not really. That was several years ago. Why?"

"My parents died," He frowned, "I had to figure it out quick since I was too old for foster care and I didn't want someone else taking my sisters from me."

"Oh..." Well, guess that explained a few things. "Didn't they leave any money to you though?"

"Not enough... there was barely enough for their funerals, they didn't have much saved..." Izaya hated telling Shizuo of all people this but here it went... "My parents were seventeen when I was born you know, they never had proper educations so there was never much money growing up and when they died the insurance only covered their funerals."

"Oh..." That was just awful. "...I would say that's enough questions for now." Shizuo really didn't want to keep prying.

Izaya frowned a little and shifted before getting up, "I'll be on the roof..." he said before heading right out. He needed a smoke...

"Alright. Just don't stay up too long." Shizuo figured he had probably upset Izaya. He sighed before getting up. They had finished breakfast then gone to questions, so there were still dishes. Shizuo didn't figure Namie to do them so he went to.

Namie would have though, she did get paid, but even she hadn't known that about Izaya. "Who'd have thought he had things like that happen to him huh?" She muttered thoughtfully.

"Well I didn't. I'm pretty sure only he and his sisters actually knew that."

"I imagine so... he's surprisingly private... mmn... maybe we should try being a little... nicer and see what happens?"

"Yeah." Shizuo nodded as he finished with the dishes before heading to the couch. "As soon as he gets down from the roof. I think I upset him with the questions."

"Probably... I doubt he's ever told anyone that before..." She sighed and got back to organizing some files for the informant.

Shizuo only nodded before picking up the book Izaya had given him to read the day before. He didn't have anything to do until it was time for Shiki to be there, so he was going to read. When Izaya got back, he'd ask him if he was alright.


	7. Chapter 7

Izaya returned an hour later after a smoke, fresh air and sunlight. In Shizuo's body those three things were great for calming his nerves.

Shizuo glanced up when Izaya came back down, and just like he had planned, "You alright Izaya?"

"Fine," It was partly true anyways. He had been upset earlier but he wasn't anymore.

"You sure?" Fine could mean a number of things and Shizuo wanted to make sure Izaya wasn't upset anymore, seeing as he didn't know how the other felt.

"Yeah. Fine now," He sat down and quietly got to work and Namie brought him some tea though when her back was turned Izaya tested a drop of it for poison before drinking.

Shizuo glanced at Izaya for a moment before going back to reading. Either he or Namie would alert him of when it was close to the time Shiki would be arriving. Plus, there wasn't really anything else he could do to be nice to Izaya the moment.

Namie did alert them and it was upstairs with Izaya after more quick coaching to Shizuo

Shizuo sighed and composed himself. Alright, Namie would get the tea and probably the door. Cocky but respectful Shiki-san. If he asks if he could get the information... say 'of course, who do you think I am?' That was simple enough. Just act like Izaya.

Shiki arrived and Namie let him in before getting the man his tea.

"Izaya-san, I trust you're feeling more yourself?"

"Of course, of course. It seems as though I was just having a bit of an off day before." Shizuo leaned back against the couch, relaxing just the slightest bit. Good. He was doing well so far. Or at least he thought so.

"Excellent, this particular assignment, I'm afraid I'll need everything you know on a person of interest to our organization immediately." Well, this was bad.

"Is that so?" Crap crap crap crap. Namie... or Izaya... or someone. Anyone. Get him out of this. Now.

"It shouldn't pose too much trouble for you; the man's name is Yadogiri Jinnai. I understand you researched him quite well after your encounter with him? I'd like to know what you know and if you can track him."

Okay. Think fast. Izaya said Shiki wouldn't ask him about what he had before, and he hadn't. But Shizuo didn't know anything about Yadogiri Jinnai. Okay. Okay. Shizuo was going to try something, and hoped it worked out. "Of course I can track him, and yes, I have researched him. But, Shiki-san, may I ask why you need this information?" _Izaya, you listened in before and knew that I had forgotten the tea. You better be listening now and you better do something to save this for me. Get outside somehow and I don't know, pretend that 'Izaya' did something to piss 'Shizuo' off. Just... something._

"You already-" A loud crash came from upstairs at that point as in a panic Izaya had decided to throw the bed against the wall to get Shizuo an out. He then opened the window and climbed onto the fire escape and up to the roof before getting in through the door he used a key to unlock. This was bad, this was really bad.

Shizuo's head snapped in the direction of the stairs when he heard the crash. Yes! Thank you Izaya. "Excuse me, Shiki-san, but I really should check to see what that was." He didn't wait for a reply as he got up and walked towards the stairs before heading up.

Izaya had left the window open of course and he paced on the roof. If they spoke in the apartment then Shiki would hear them and he was praying -yes, praying, something he hadn't done in years- that Shizuo had a good memory.

Shizuo arrived at the bedroom and saw that the bed was against the wall. He sighed before noting the open window. There was no way that you could jump down from there, and Izaya wasn't anywhere up here... so he'd be on the roof. He had to investigate, though he knew it was Izaya, so he made his way up to the roof.

"Shit, you don't even know who this guy is... damn it, you have a good memory right? Please tell me you can memorize everything!" Izaya gave Shizuo no chance to talk when he got up there.

"Probably not every single little word, but I do have a good memory and will be able to remember the details." Based on what Izaya had said, Shizuo guessed that he was going to tell him about the Yadogiri guy he was supposed to tell Shiki about.

"Yadogiri Jinnai, aged 67, retired Information Broker, retired because he lied to the Awakusu-Kai and it got ten of their men killed, they've been after him since. He's dangerous, usually uses a knife to fight like I do. He's similar to me in ways, but where I manipulate people he controls them. They are his forever if he gets them into his web,"

"Okay. He's 67, retired information broker, because he lied to the Awakusu-Kai and got ten of their men killed. Dangerous, usually fights with a knife. Controls people. His forever if he gets them into his web." Shizuo recited the main points Izaya had told him. "Alright. I got it. Anything else I'd have to tell Shiki?"

"Yes, he was last spotted in Shinjuku, twenty minutes from here, that's the only thing he wants to know really but warn him against close combat.

Shizuo nodded. "Alight. Should I tell Shiki anything about the noise? Or just leave it or what do I say when I go back down?"

"Just look a little irritated and say it was nothing, he won't pry," Izaya sighed.

Shizuo nodded. "Alright. I can do that." He sighed. "I really don't like this. But I should get back down there. I imagine that I don't want to keep him waiting."

"No, now! Hurry up!"

Shizuo sighed irritably before going back down. He was irritated, so of course he looked irritated as he sat back down. "Turns out it wasn't anything. Now... where were we?"

"Yadogiri Jinnai, where is he?"

"Ah, you haven't told me to track him yet, Shiki-san." Shiki... wanted to know about him. At least Shizuo thought so. "Didn't you want to know what I knew about him?" Saving it. He was saving this.

"You know all I want is how to kill him Izaya-san. So tell me where he is and how he fights and we'll call it a day hmm?"

_Crap. Izaya, this is not how you said it would go. Though you didn't tell me where he was, so I'm assuming you don't know._ "Yadogiri fights with knifes and it is best not to fight him in close combat. As for where he is, I don't actually know at the moment. Though he was last spotted twenty minutes from here. Yadogiri could be anywhere by now, though." _Oh god, please let this work, and I am glad that I can pull off looking calm when I am not angry._

"In what direction?" Shizuo got a text from Izaya at that moment, one word only [SOUTH!]

"South, Shiki-san." It was a good thing Izaya pulled through. "Will that be all?"

"Yes," Shiki put an envelope on the table, "Take care then Orihara-san," He left promptly already making a call.

As soon as he was sure Shiki and his men were gone, Shizuo let out a relieved breath. That was a close call. Really close. Shizuo slumped against the couch and closed his eyes. Izaya could come down now and get that for Shiki, and Namie could do whatever she was doing before.

Izaya came down shaking lightly as he opened the envelope and counted out the pay. "That was close..."

Shizuo nodded. "Yeah. It was. I don't like it. And that was different than you thought it'd be, so I wasn't prepared for it."

"He's never asked for information immediately, I couldn't have possibly foreseen that," Izaya pointed out, a little bitterly.

"Yeah. Guess so. It's not like anyone can see into the future." Shizuo had just been stating something before, though it seemed like Izaya though that he was accusing him.

Izaya seemed to relax at his words though, too used to being attacked by others to have thought it was anything else.

"Well... yeah... no one can... so..." He seemed taken aback now.

Shizuo stretched before relaxing fully on the couch, actually laying down on it instead of sitting on it. "Yeah. Well, we got through it though, so no use to dwell on it. Maybe we should get like an ear piece of something so you can talk into a walkie or something and I hear what I'm supposed to say."

"You know, that's actually a good idea..." Izaya blinked in surprise. He hadn't actually known Shizuo was capable of them.

Of course Shizuo was capable of good ideas. Izaya was just used to him being angry. Plus, they hadn't even been in each other's bodies for a week yet, so it wasn't like Izaya knew Shizuo. Shizuo shrugged. "Go ahead and look for something like that then, if you want. It'd certainly be a lot easier."

"Yeah... You too though, I have to find something that fits the ear on my head while being invisible.

Shizuo sighed before sitting up. "You mean now? And won't it be weird that Shizuo and Izaya are together and not fighting?"

"If we shopped in Ikebukuro it would be, however we'd be in Shinjuku. We're not famous here like we are there," Izaya shrugged.

"Ah. Guess that makes sense." Shizuo shrugged before stretching. "Though you never answered. You mean now?"

"Well, do you have plans?" Izaya asked pointedly.

"Course I don't." Shizuo sighed before standing. "Alright then. Let's go."

Yes, lets." Izaya agreed, standing and heading out of the apartment.

Shizuo sighed lightly before following after. He figured that Izaya knew a place, so he just let the other lead.

Izaya found a shop soon enough and just as he had said the shop keepers had no idea who they were at all.

That worked perfectly for Shizuo. He turned to Izaya. "Alright. You know what to look for, and I don't. So I guess I'll just follow you around the store."

Izaya found a few things and gave them tries before settling on one that would be invisible in Shizuo's ...err... his own ear.

Shizuo observed the piece. "So this'll work, huh?" It was small enough and fit snugly in his ear. Besides, Izaya seemed satisfied with it.

"Yes. No one should see it and I'll be able to hear what gets said too, it goes both ways. I'll tell you what you need to say and you can say it."

Shizuo nodded. "Alright. Let's get it then."

Izaya paid and they headed home again though the informant was beginning to tire of this. He wanted his own body back; he doubted he would antagonize Shizuo as often now anyways.

Shizuo wanted his own body back too, though he was starting to get used to being Izaya. When they got back, Shizuo grabbed a DS, plopped down on the couch, and started to play. He really couldn't do much else and he didn't want to bother Izaya or Namie.

All they could really do for now was not argue about it and hope they started getting along. Izaya doubted they would get beyond a shaky truce though.

As long as they could get along and not fight, they'd get their bodies back. But only if they couldn't fight. So it might take a while for them to switch back, seeing as Celty wanted to make sure that they wouldn't fight anymore.

After a bit, Shizuo sighed. He should probably ask Izaya some more questions. Hmm. What though? Hmm. What had he already asked and what hadn't he?

"Oi. Izaya. I figured we should probably know each other better. So... what's your favorite memory?"

"Ah? Um... You can't laugh alright?"

"I won't. I won't." If it was funny, he could manage not to laugh.

"Mairu and Kururi being born," He felt his cheeks turning pink at that. "Yours?"

"I don't see why I'd laugh at that. And didn't you already ask me that?"

"No, I didn't." he frowned. If he had he had forgotten.

"Oh. Alright then. My favorite memory... Hmmm. I guess I'd have to say the first time I held Kasuka when he was born."

Ah... so they had something in common then.

"I see... Well then, what did you want to do when you grew up as a child?"

"As a kid? Hmm. I don't really remember." Shizuo shrugged. Ever since getting his strength and tempter at age nine, he had been worried about even working at a fast food joint.

"Really? You never wanted to be an astronaut or a super hero or anything?"

"I said I don't remember, not that I didn't want to be anything" Shizuo replied irritably.

"Hm. Whatever,"

Shizuo rolled his eyes. "What did you want to do as a kid?"

"P-preschool teacher"

"Really? How come?"

"I don't know, maybe since then I could play all day long..."

Shizuo blinked a couple of time. Did he hear that right? "To play all day...?"

"I was seven!" Izaya defended, embarrassed by it. Though he did still want to be a preschool teacher...

Shizuo chuckled a bit before shaking his head. "Alright. That makes sense. Hmm. If you weren't an informant broker, what do you picture yourself doing for a living?"

"You mean if I could have any job in the world?" He asked for clarification.

"Any job in the world that would be realistic. Don't say something stupid like king of the world or anything."

"Preschool teacher..." He blushed for real now.

"The same thing? Why?"

"Because I like teaching and playing with children..."

Shizuo chuckled lightly. "Alright. You ask something now."

"Fine, if you could have any job, what would you pick then?"

"I'm perfectly happy with my job now."

"Are you? You're in a high stress profession after all; you wouldn't prefer something more low-key?"

"Tch. Yeah I would. But I don't know any profession where I wouldn't lose my temper. Tom's a friend and I've never gotten mad at him. Plus, he won't fire me."

"Fair enough, I suppose one takes what one can get..." Izaya agreed with a sigh.

Shizuo sighed as he calmed himself. "Yeah." He closed his eyes. "Hmm. How come you say you love all humans? That can't possibly be true. You don't know every single one of them."

"I love humanity in general, not as individuals," Izaya corrected.

Shizuo rolled his eyes. "Alright. Why do you love humanity then?"

"Because they're the most fascinating species. They think of themselves as innovators and inventors, as creators when really they're the most destructive species on the planet and the most volatile one."

Shizuo rolled his eyes. "Whatever. You're turn."

"What's your favorite thing then? What do you love?"

"Be more specific with both those questions."

"Like how I love humans, what is yours?"

"I guess I'd say I love my family and friends then. And what do you mean by favorite thing?"

"Ah. On earth. Your very favorite thing! It can be anyone or anything,"

"Tch. Hm." Shizuo paused. Favorite thing, anything or anyone. ... Did he even have one? After a bit of though, he decided that no, he didn't. "Don't have a favorite thing."

"Eh? Nothing? Alright then, why do you call me a flea?"

"Cause you're like one. Annoying and hard to get rid of." Izaya frowned at his reply, irritated by how mean Shizuo was.

"Haven't called you that in a few days though, Izaya." Shizuo only added this once he glanced up at Izaya.

Izaya sighed. It was true, Shizuo hadn't, but he had also just said Izaya was annoying and hard to get rid of.

Crap. He had just messed up. Great. Shizuo let out an irritated sigh before getting up and heading up the stairs. This was why he didn't have many friends. Even if they weren't scared of him, and he managed not to get angry at them, he said the wrong thing.

It didn't occur to Shizuo that he had just thought about trying to make friends with Izaya, indirectly though.

"You're question Shizu-chan," Izaya said before the other could escape. He was irritated yes, but he was also going to look passed it now.

Shizuo sighed before making his way back to the couch. "Alright. How come I'm a monster?" Izaya was always going on about that.

"Because you're too strong to be human,"

Shizuo rolled his eyes. "Is that all?"

"Yup, that's all," Izaya leaned back and watched Shizuo. "I believe your emotions are human, but you are a monster,"

"Tch. Fine. Your question." That was mean.

"Why do you hate me? I mean from the start? Before I did anything wrong?"

"I didn't hate you. I said 'you piss me off'. Then you did a whole bunch of stuff to piss me off more."

"Alright, why did I piss you off?" Izaya wanted to know what it was. For the first week they had known each other Shizuo had been the instigator of all the fights.

"Your attitude pissed me off."

"I hadn't even said anything, how could my attitude have done anything?"

"When Shinra first introduced us, you were clapping and smirking at the destruction I had caused."

"I'll admit, I was impressed, but who wouldn't be with such a display?" Normal people would have run the other direction and been afraid.

"Why would you be impressed?"

"Because I had never seen anything like it. It was incredible and you intrigued me."

"Then why were you smirking?"

"Because anything else was wrong. I wasn't afraid of you so why should I appear as such? I was happy if anything but I don't smile in front of people I've just met,"

"Tch. Fine. Then I guess you just gave off the wrong impression."

Izaya frowned a little, "I never did anything to you that first week you know. If anything I was very confused by your behavior," Izaya wished they had not gotten off on the wrong foot.

"I get stuck on first impressions a lot of times. And it didn't help that after I came after you, you fueled the fights."

"I defended myself that first week, nothing more. I didn't even insult you!" He argued.

"Well I just said that I get stuck of first impressions. Or maybe I just read what you did wrong."

Izaya frowned, "So what, all of the hate we have for each other is based on a misunderstanding?" That was stupid.

Shizuo shrugged. "Guess so. Well, not all of it. We did do stuff to make each other mad. Like you getting me fired from a couple of jobs."

"That was only because you landed me in the hospital," Izaya frowned at the other.

"When did I put you in the hospital?"

"You threw that post at me remember? Hit me in the head? I needed a CT scan and I had migraines for a month after that,"

Shizuo frowned. "Sorry." Before it had escalated to Izaya getting him fired and stuff, he never meant to actually hurt the other. Just get him to leave him alone.

Except he had hurt Izaya, numerous times. In fact the only reason Izaya had been so cruel as to lose him a couple of jobs and frame him for a crime was because he wanted Shizuo to start leaving him alone.

Shizuo sighed and closed his eyes. "Usually people just leave me alone because of my reputation and I don't go out to make friends. Usually all I gotta do to get someone to leave me alone is get pissed at them once then I never hear from them again. That didn't happen with you."

"Because I wasn't afraid of you. I wanted to get to know you... then you started hurting me so I started doing it back," Izaya shrugged. "It's how I've always been, I treat everyone else however they treat me."

Shizuo scowled. "Then I guess this whole thing really has been under a misunderstanding."

"So... what... do we do then?" Izaya wasn't prepared for a revelation like this.

Shizuo frowned. "Dunno." He hadn't expected that either.

"We can't really keep... hating each other over something so... so stupid..." Izaya frowned and tried to think.

"Technically we could. But that'd be even stupider."

"Yeah..." Izaya sighed, "So... what should we start over again then?" From the beginning... it would mean they both would have to let go of a lot of things the other had done but it wasn't impossible.

"Guess so. I mean, we have to get along anyway to get back to normal, and not counting the couple of verbal fights we've had, we've been getting along since we became each other."

"Yeah... better than we did before... so... fresh start huh? We... we both wipe the slate clean and... pretend nothing ever happened between us?"

"Nothin' 'cept high school and Celty switching our bodies."

"Even High school was bad Shizu-chan..." Izaya frowned. If he held on to what happened then he still would hate the blonde for breaking his ribs twice.

"No. I mean that we had high school together."

"Oh... so... we just remember that we know each other..." Hmn... That could work. Of course Izaya couldn't forget it for real, but he could act like it never happened.

"Seeing as it's not like we actually forget everything, I say we also act like I've been staying here since Celty switched our bodies, and the questions that we've asked each other. The rest should be history and we're just two people trying to get to know each other to get back to normal."

"I can agree to that," Izaya agreed. After all, they had been relatively nice to each other when killing the other killed themselves as well.

Shizuo nodded. "Yeah. I say we start this tomorrow though. Or whatever. The day is almost over. Something." It was around time for dinner anyway.

"Yeah... well... dinner then," Izaya stood and headed into the kitchen to start cooking but he didn't even know what to make.

"Want some help?" Shizuo offered as he stood and made his way to the kitchen. He didn't like being lazy.

"Sure... what... what should we have though?" Izaya was trying to think.

"Hmm. Let's just get something simple. Or maybe just order sushi from Russia Sushi."

"Sushi huh? What kind do you like? I'll order Ootoro since you'll like that but I dunno what you usually get there,"

"Eh. If you call jut say the usual." Shizuo shrugged.

"Alright... but it'll be weird if I order Izaya's usual order and have it delivered here won't it?" He pointed out with a sigh.

"Simon'll deliver. I don't think he'll think it's weird at all." Shizuo shrugged. "Just ask for the usually and ootoro and then have it delivered here."

"Alright..." Izaya sighed and called up before doing exactly that.

After a bit, there was a knock at the door. "Should you get that or me? You ordered but its 'my' place."

"You then... here," Izaya dug cash out to pay.

Shizuo took the money before answering the door. Of course, Simon was there with his 'Sushi good'. Shizuo just smiled and nodded as he paid Simon before taking the two orders of sushi and heading back to the table. "Alright. Here we are."

Izaya sighed when he saw the Ootoro, but he knew in Shizuo's body it wouldn't taste the same as it did in his own so he took Shizuo's usual and Shizuo took Izaya's usual and they dug in.

The first bite of ootoro and Shizuo nearly melted. "This tastes so much better as you than I'm used to." He could see why it was Izaya's favorite food.

"Obviously, I think it's the food of the gods Shizu-chan, so in my body you're going to love it," Shizuo's tasted alright, but it was milk, strawberries and cake -especially strawberry cake- that Izaya found he had a newfound appreciation for in this body.

Shizuo chuckled. "Yeah. Guess that's true. And you like all the stuff I love as me." Shizuo popped another piece of ootoro into his mouth.

"Yeah... strawberry cake is apparently your favorite, especially with a nice glass of milk..." Izaya sighed. He never ate cake in his own body.

"Mm-hmm. I usually drink milk over anything else and I love sweets." Shizuo shrugged.

"I've noticed... you must brush your teeth five times a day to avoid cavities..."

"Huh? No. I'm rarely home. I just brush them well when I get up and before I go to bed." Shizuo shrugged at that.

"Really? You must avoid sugar then, right?" He would have to if he didn't want fillings.

"No. I just don't put too much extra in. Unless I have to have coffee. That stuff is disgusting."

"Black coffee is delicious in my body... I did try it in yours though..." He shivered a little. It was disgusting in this body...

Shizuo shrugged. "Guess our food tastes are really different."

"Yeah, you like sweet stuff and I like bitter..." Izaya sighed softly. Well, they worked well if they were eating a box of chocolates...

Shizuo sighed before eating the last piece of ootoro. "Guess it'll be strange when we turn back then. Cause I'll be used to eating all the bitter stuff and you the sweet stuff then we don't like what we've been eating."

"Hah! Maybe!" He chuckled at that.

Shizuo grinned before stretching and standing. Then he threw his empty sushi box in the trash.

"Ah... time for bed then ne? Let's change..." Izaya yawned. He was tired after today.

Shizuo nodded before yawning himself. "Yeah. Let's go." He stretched again before heading up to the bedroom and grabbing a set of Izaya's night clothes.

Izaya grabbed Shizuo's night clothing in his room but he just changed there, not caring if Shizuo saw. After all, it was Shizuo's body so nothing he hadn't seen before.

It wasn't like Shizuo cared either. He changed quickly before climbing into the bed and curling up under the covers.

Izaya climbed in beside him and wrapped both arms around him so that Shizuo didn't freeze during the night.

Shizuo curled up into the warmth before closing his eyes and smiling lightly. "Night Izaya."

"Night, Shizu-chan," He smiled too before drifting off peacefully.

Come morning, Shizuo yawned and stretched. He was still cuddled up to Izaya. It was nice and warm, but he knew he had to get up and get to know each other and such, so he sat up and shook Izaya. "Oi. Izaya. It's morning."

"I hate morning..." Izaya grumbled and stretched though, trying to get out of bed.

Shizuo rolled his eyes. "I don't think it'd be good to sleep till morning's over though. So come on."

"Yeah yeah, I'm up..." He sighed, sitting up and yawning.

"Good." Shizuo rubbed his eyes a bit, seeing as he actually just got up too. Ah, he was cold now. Izaya really was freezing and he hated it. So he sighed before getting up and going to grab a change of clothes.

Before he could leave though Izaya grabbed him and held him close, "Ngh... your body is a furnace and mine is a freezer... you feel nice right here..." He muttered.

Shizuo sighed but didn't argue. He was used to the heat of his own body, so being Izaya meant he felt even colder and vice versa for Izaya. "Alright. Cause you are damn cold."

"Heh~," Izaya grinned and just held the other. It was like their bodies were made for each other like this, though he didn't dare voice this.

Shizuo sighed lightly before closing his eyes and relaxing. It was nice and felt perfect. He didn't know of any clients Izaya had, and he had texted Tom so it wasn't like Izaya had to leave for his job. So it was fine to just stay there for a bit.

It was a good half hour before Izaya let Shizuo go, and only because he was getting so hungry.

When Izaya let him go, he went ahead to change. That way he didn't freeze. "You wanna change before or after we eat?"

"I'll eat first..." He headed down to the kitchen to get to work on breakfast

Shizuo smiled lightly before heading down. He was hungry too.

Breakfast wound up being an omelet with onions cheese, mushrooms, olives and bacon in it. It was served with orange Juice though he knew Shizuo's body would prefer milk.

Shizuo ate happily, glad that Izaya had taken time to cook. Then again, it wasn't like he could just starve each other. "Thanks."

"You're welcome," Izaya smiled a little. He liked the fact that Shizuo had actually thanked him for once.

After they both finished, Shizuo went ahead and washed the dishes. After all, there were twice as many now that he was there and Izaya did cook.

"So... what do... you wanna do?"

Shizuo shrugged. "Dunno. I'm up for anything."

"I see..." Well then... hmmm... Izaya didn't know what to do.

"What do you enjoy doing then?"

"I don't usually have free time. Most of the day I'm with Tom working, chasing after you, at Shinra's because of a wound or at home either getting ready to start the day or end the day."

"Really? You mean you have no real interests?" He frowned a little at the thought.

Shizuo shrugged. "I don't usually have time for interests. It's why I've been bored here. I'm used to being busy and then I'm just here."

"You'll have to figure some out soon then, though you don't seem to be minding that book I gave you

Shizuo shrugged again. "The book is interesting. I don't get to read a lot, but I do like to."

"You know there are six books after that one right?" Izaya chuckled. That would keep Shizuo busy for a while.

"There are?" It would keep him busy for a bit. He wasn't the fastest reader and wasn't even halfway through with the book yet. He grinned at the thought of having something more to read. "Do you have them?"

"Yes, along with a few other things that go with it"

Shizuo grinned, though it probably looked strange with Izaya's face. "Guess I got something to do for awhile then."

"Yeah," Still, it would be nice to do some things together too...

"...I won't be able to just read and read and read though. It may be interesting, but there's no way I'd be able to just sit still and keep reading." In fact, he only had the first day reading it because he had literally nothing else to do.

"Ah... well then, what else..." Izaya frowned a little, knowing Shizuo needed more to do than read or laze around.

Shizuo shrugged. "Guess we could do something. I mean, we're supposed to get along and our hate was a misunderstand so why not? Though what, I don't know."

"I like to watch movies... and Karaoke though I never have anyone to do that with..."

"Karaoke? Uh... guess we could do that sometime though it seems strange. And I wouldn't object to a movie."

"Alright then, what kind of movies do you prefer? Action, romance... kids?"

Shizuo shrugged. "I'm up for anything. 'Cause the only movies I go out of my way to see are Kasuka's."

"Alright..." Izaya picked out one from his library then, Howls Moving Castle since he figured no one could dislike Studio Ghibli films.

Shizuo made himself comfortable on the couch as Izaya started the movie up. "This a good movie?"

"All movies by Studio Ghibli are good," Izaya informed him as he sat beside the blonde to watch.

Shizuo shrugged. "Alright then. I'll shut up so we can enjoy the movie." Shizuo pretended to zip and lock his lips shut for the movie, even if it hadn't actually started yet.

When it did of course, Izaya remained quiet too though if he noticed Shizuo getting cold at all he wrapped an arm around him.

Sometime during the movie, Shizuo decided to just lean against Izaya. It was comfortable and kept him from being cold. He didn't glance at Izaya though, just opting to keep his eyes on the TV screen.

Izaya smiled unconsciously as they watched it though, oddly happy about this odd new relationship with Shizuo.

After the movie, Shizuo sat back up and pretended to unlock and unzip his lips. "That was a good movie. Have any others by that company?" He wouldn't mind watching some more of them with Izaya.

"Of course~, I have ALL the movies made by that company~"

Shizuo smiled. "Can we watch more of them?" He liked them. Besides, it was something to do and he didn't mind just watching a movie with Izaya.

"Sure..." Izaya selected Spirited Away next and sat down again. "Let me know if you want snacks or anything..."

Shizuo shook his head. "I don't think you snack and I haven't been hungry except around meal times so I'm good." He smiled before getting comfy on the couch again.

"Ah... yeah, I've never been much of a snacker... you either apparently..." Izaya wrapped his arm around Shizuo again and started the movie.

"I'm usually out and about with Tom. There's no time to snack." Shizuo leaned against Izaya again before focusing on the movie.

"Guess not..." The movie started so Izaya shut up now too.

Shizuo shrugged and watched the movie. It was interesting and he liked it. Studio Ghibli films really were good. He'd have to watch more of them. Well, Izaya did have them all.

After this one finished though Izaya made lunch, "Shizu-chan, you like walking right? Let's go for a walk then"

"Eh? Sure. I guess as long as it's here in Shinjuku so it doesn't look weird that we're getting along." Shizuo shrugged.

"Yeah, agreed. Though if we do start getting along everyone will find out anyways..." He sighed.

Shizuo shrugged. "I'd still rather wait till we switch back though. It'd be easier."

"Yeah... at least we would be ourselves then..." Izaya agreed.

Shizuo sat down at the table, seeing as they hadn't actually eaten yet. "We'll walk after lunch though."

"Yeah," Izaya chuckled as he took a bite.

Shizuo smiled before eating his own lunch Izaya had made. After finishing, he put his dishes into the sink. "Are you ready to go?"

"Yeah," Izaya agreed, placing his own away too. He pulled his shoe -or rather Shizuo's shoes- on and stretched. "I think I'm finally used to being tall..."

Shizuo laughed at that. It was a random comment or at least he thought so as he pulled on his shoes.

"What? It'll be weird being in my body now when we switch back!"

"It just seemed like a random comment. And it will be weird. We'll be eating the foods we regularly like. I'll be a furnace and you'll be a freezer. I'll have my strength and you won't."

"We'll get along... that'll be the weird part..."

"Only to others if we were getting along before we switch back which we have to switch back in the first place." Shizuo pointed out.

"Ah... oh yeah..." That sorta made sense... maybe. At any rate this new relationship with Shizuo was weird too. They were getting along already, though only just and it was still fragile.

Shizuo chuckled before straitening up. "At any rate, weren't we gonna go on a walk? Not stay inside and chat?"

"Ah... come on then..." He grinned and headed out of the apartment with Shizuo.

Shizuo chuckled lightly before following after. It was nice out. That much he could be grateful for.

"Ahh, I love it when the weather is nice~, but I like rain too~"

"I don't like the rain. It's wet and inconvenient. I prefer weather like this. Nice but not too hot or cold."

"I like rain since it relaxes me when I listen to it... and it smells really nice afterwards..."

Shizuo shrugged. "People think different things."

"I suppose..." Izaya shrugged, "sunlight is nice too though~"

"Yeah." Shizuo shrugged as he walked besides Izaya instead of behind him like he was at first.

"Shizu-chan... do you believe in an afterlife?"

"Eh?" Strange question. Oh well. "Yeah. I believe in an afterlife of sorts."

"Really? What do you believe happens then?" He asked.

"Reincarnation. You spend some time dead then you get reincarnated as someone else."

"I see..." Izaya thought to himself. He supposed having a belief in something was better than nothing, "What about soul mates then? Do you believe that you unconsciously seek out the same soul in each life?"

"I guess in a way."

"So... you think then that there is definitely someone for you out there and you'll find them someday? What if you hate them though?"

"I said in a way." Shizuo pointed out. "I believe that there is someone for everyone. But not necessarily that they'll meet. And they don't even have to like each other. They can even end up with someone else and be happy. But there is a perfect match. That perfect match being the soul mate."

"Mm... if that's true then I only want to be with that perfect match..."

Shizuo glanced up at Izaya. "How come?" He was curious.

"Because anything less than perfect would be... because I just want to be with the person who is perfect for me... I wouldn't want anyone else, not in any life... if that person is my perfect match then I want to be only there's and they only mine,"

Huh... Guess that made sense. "That's pretty sweet, Izaya."

"Ah? I-It is not..." His cheeks turned pink at that compliment.

Shizuo chuckled at Izaya's reaction, even if it did look like he was blushing. "I think it is. Maybe you're secretly a romantic or something like that."

"Haah? Me? No... I don't think there is anyone out there for me..."

"You don't but I do. Didn't you hear what I said I thought?" Shizuo pointed out. "Besides, you just treat people how they treat you. Isn't that the golden rule or whatever? Treat people how you want to be treated? They're mean to you first so you're mean right back."

He nodded, "Yeah... but for some reason... everyone is mean to start with..."

"Maybe cause they see you be mean to others and assume you'll be mean to them?"

"M-maybe..." Izaya frowned a little, "I'm not mean to Mairu and Kururi though..."

"Your sisters come to visit you and no one sees you out with them. I even thought you were mean to them." Shizuo pointed out.

"Yeah... I guess. They can only do that though since if others know I'm nice to them... No, it can't happen again,"

"It's alright Izaya. That wasn't your fault. But there you go. They think you'll be mean first. So they act. They should try being nice first but I'm not really one to talk about that."

"I suppose you aren't... do you believe in a God then at all?"

Shizuo shrugged. "I say there could be one or there might not be. The world was created someone but I doubt it was from the big bang. Certainly there isn't one that helps though, else why is there really sin and stuff?"

"What if it's up to humanity though? I mean if there was a god and he or she really was all powerful, certainly, they could fix everything... but then we would just fuck it all up again too, wouldn't we?"

Shizuo shrugged. "Guess so. But couldn't that same god just make it so we didn't. Maybe there's one that creates and such but possibly doesn't actually care for people. I don't know."

"I don't think there is a god... but supposing there is, it would be like parenting right? Parents who love their children let them make mistakes so that they learn and don't repeat them... if there was a god, wouldn't that be the best way to show their love? By not doing anything to fix what havoc we wreak?"

Shizuo just shrugged again. "I don't know, Izaya. Maybe. Can we talk about something else though? This seems like it's going around in circles."

"Ah... that's philosophy for you..." Izaya shrugged. He supposed Shizuo wasn't the philosophical type. He really wasn't. Shizuo wasn't one to think deeply about things and preferred to keep them simple.

"Shizu-chan... you wanna... stop for food?"

"We just ate lunch though." Shizuo pointed out. "I'm not really hungry."

"I mean at dinner..." He frowned. It might be weird going out for dinner with Shizuo but... maybe not uncomfortable...

"Oh..." Well... it could help with getting along. "Yeah. I don't see why not. Have a place in mind?"

"Yeah... I know a place you might... well, right now you'll like it for sure and I think you're body will like the food too..." Either way it meant they would be out for a while, though he didn't mind. Both of them needed some exercise.

Shizuo smiled. "Alright then. That works out. But a silent walk is no fun. So what else should we talk about until dinner?"

"Hmm... if I quit you smoking while I was in your body would you stick with it when we switched back?"

"Probably not. Just cause you don't do anything to tick me off doesn't mean the people I deal with while working with Tom don't. At first it'd just be a few here and there to calm down, like in high school when gangs attacked me. But then I'd get addicted again." Yes. He knew he had been addicted before.

"I see... so you don't want to quit then?"

Shizuo sighed. "I would if people didn't piss me off. It's why I started in the first place. It calmed me."

"Does it still work or are you only smoking out of habit now?"

"I always smoke to calm down, but yeah. Most of the time it's cause of habit."

"What if you had another form of stress relief? I mean no offense Shizu-chan but you weren't calm before you started and you weren't after you started either."

Shizuo shrugged. "The cigarettes help and if you're suggestion a stress ball or something like that, it's never worked."

"No, I mean say you had a family... you can't smoke around children you know, or if your spouse didn't like it,"

Shizuo blinked a couple of times. "Eh? A family and kids?" He was quiet for the moment before replying. "I don't know... I haven't thought about it."

"You should. I mean if there is someone out there for you then you have to assume that you may find them and if you do that they may not approve of your smoking habit." He pointed out.

Shizuo sighed. "Guess you're right. I'll try not to smoke when we switch back then. I'll get gum or something to chew when people piss me off."

"That could work well," Izaya nodded, though he wasn't sure why he was so adamant the other quit. Maybe because Izaya was the one doing the really hard part.

"Besides, they're bad for you. I have a harder time breathing in your body than I do in mine..."

Shizuo shrugged. "Probably cause you've never smoked. I've been since high school, so I've been used to it." Smoking damaged your lungs or something like that, but he had always felt fine smoking.

Then again with Shizuo it was progressive damage so he wouldn't have noticed it until it was truly irreversible and he had something chronic. Izaya however was used to his own body's near perfect health and so he noticed it more.

"Okay... What else should we talk about?" There wasn't really anything else he could offer up on the topic of smoking, so it seemed pointless to him to stay on the topic.

"Umm... I dunno..." Shizuo wasn't very good with natural movement in a conversation.

"Okay.. Uh... More questions till dinner?"

"Sure, you first, but don't ask anything you aren't prepared to answer,"


	8. Chapter 8

"Alright. That seems fair enough. Hmmm..." Something to ask... Something to ask. Let's see... Okay. Random question time just because he really couldn't think of anything else to ask. "Have you ever had a crush on someone?"

"Huh? I don't know... not really I suppose... there have been people I thought of as attractive but it's not just about looks either ne?"

Shizuo chuckled. "No. I don't think it should be about looks. It should be about what that person is like and how they treat you."

"How about you then? Have you had any crushes?"

"Eh? Well. Yeah. When I was younger..."

"Cute~" Izaya chuckled lightly, wondered what she must have been like.

"Tch." Shizuo glanced down at the ground, a bit embarrassed. "You ask something now, that isn't just my question back at me."

"Mm? Alright, when did you first discover your strength?"

"When I was nine." Because Kasuka ate his pudding. Then he tried to throw the fridge at him and only failed because his bones weren't strong enough to hold it up. But Izaya already knew about the attempting to throw the fridge at Kasuka part. Just not when and why.

"I see… must have been scary at first..."

"I guess it would have been had I been focused on it." He had been more focused on the fact that he was in the hospital with broken bones.

"Eh? What were you focused on then?" Izaya asked his tone curious.

"...I was in the hospital."

"Ah? Oh... yeah, I guess if your body wasn't able to handle such a thing..." Izaya fell silent. He supposed neither of them had experienced particularly easy lives.

Shizuo sighed and nodded. "Yeah. I was in the hospital a lot. I think every time I used my strength till the middle of middle school or something."

"That's a long time," Izaya agreed, "You should ask me some questions now then."

"Uh. Alright. ...Hmmm." What to ask? He didn't have many questions. "I can't think of anything."

"Really? Nothing? Fine, what's your greatest fear?"

"Hurting people I care about."

"Oh... makes sense I suppose..." He agreed, nodding a little.

Shizuo sighed before spotting a bench and sitting down. "Yeah. I mean, it'd be really easy to hurt them, even kill them on accident..."

"I guess so... Shizu-chan, you don't see Kasuka often either, do you?"

Shizuo shook his head. "Not really. He's always out. And it isn't like he can just come to visit whenever he wants."

"I suppose not. But you don't call him too much either, I had thought by now he would have at least texted you..." Unless Shizuo did all the initiation in terms of conversation.

"Kasuka usually emails me. And even then, not much." Shizuo shrugged.

"I see..." Izaya sighed.  
And just as they were about to stop talking about Kasuka, there he was, across the street and walking towards them now. He had found that Shizuo's apartment had shown no signs of him being in it for at least a week, so had been walking around the city looking for him. However, instead of walking up to 'Shizuo', he walked up to 'Izaya'. "Good afternoon, nii-san..."

"Eh?" Izaya blinked and watched Kasuka referring to his body as 'Nii-san'.

"But this is Shizu-chan's body..."

Shizuo looked over at Izaya. "Kasuka has always been able to tell who I am and how I feel just from the way I hold myself. He's perceptive like that." Kasuka nodded in agreement, face still blank.

"I see... how unusual... you must care about Shizu-chan a great deal then"

"Nii-san is family. Of course I care for him." He turned back to Shizuo now. "How did you and Orihara-san switch bodies?"

"Ah... we made Celty mad."

"Yeah... really mad" Izaya scratched the back of his head lightly in sheepishness.

"At least you two are getting along now."

Shizuo smiled lightly. "Yeah. That's good."

"Yeah..." Izaya shifted, feeling a bit awkward to be just standing there.

Kasuka glanced over at Izaya. "Should I come back after you two are back to normal?"

"No, I just don't think it would be wise for Shizu-chan's brother to be seen talking to my body is all... not in public..."

"I'll come by later then. Maybe tomorrow around noon. Your place, Orihara-san?"

Shizuo nodded. "Yeah. We've both been staying there."

Izaya nodded, "Alright Kasuka-kun," He agreed.

Kasuka nodded. "See you later, Orihara-san, nii-san." And with that, he left.

"Looks like we can't really hide this well. The only people we've interacted with who don't know we switched are Tom and that one client. Shiki."

"And Dotachin ...or are you counting only those we've interacted with since the switch?"

"I said that we've interacted with who don't know we switched." Shizuo pointed out.

"Ah... right," Izaya shook his head. "Mmn, my mind gets muddled when your body hasn't got enough nicotine it seems..." That would go away soon he hoped.

Shizuo shrugged. "Cause you're still having me quit. Isn't gonna be like that for awhile? Till my body isn't addicted anymore or something?"

"Yeah... but even then it's half mental too, you have to want to stay off them once your body is"

"I already said I'd try to stay off them, didn't I?" Shizuo pointed out a bit irritably.

"Yeah, yeah," Izaya sighed, "Let's not argue."

Shizuo sighed too. "Yeah. I've been mostly calm since we switched. I'd like to stay that way. Arguing wouldn't help with that."

"Yeah..." Izaya knew they would have some but he wasn't going to try to stop them now before they started.

Shizuo stretched before standing up from where he was sitting. "Alright. Let's walk around some more. It's nice being able to walk around outside."

"Yeah..." Izaya agreed, "Hey, Shizu-chan... n-now that we kinda know each other I think you're a pretty okay person..."

Shizuo smiled. "Yeah. And you're not as bad as I thought either. Though you're being all shy. How come?"

"Mmn... well, I'm usually shy with people I like, nobody knows it, that's all..."

"You didn't seem shy with your sisters though." Shizuo pointed out. "But I guess that makes sense. After all, they're mean to you so you wouldn't like them."

"I get less shy over time, I'm not with them because they're my sisters... and they can be mean, but they're usually nice too..."

"Guess that makes sense." Shizuo shrugged. "It close to dinner time?"

"Yeah," By now it was nearly six so they found a place to eat -Izaya knew Shizuo would like it since he came a lot. In fact the waitress greeted Shizuo by 'Orihara-san' and asked if he would like his usual order.

"Uh. Yeah." Shizuo went ahead and figured that he'd like it since he was Izaya. The waitress seated them before asking Izaya if he knew what he was going to order.

Izaya grunted that he'd need to look at the menu first and did just that to find something that would appeal to Shizuo's tastes.

The waitress merely nodded before going off to get them both a water to start off with. She soon returned and set the glasses down.

Izaya picked something sweet and put his order in. It was healthy at least, just on the sweeter side of things.

Shizuo glanced around the place. "This is nice. Fancier than I'm used to too."

"It is, I come here often... as you can tell considering they know my name... or... well, I suppose right now it's your name,"

Shizuo chuckled. "Yeah. Guess so. It's a nice place. You have good taste."

"Well... thanks..." He shifted a little and smiled nervously at the other.

Shizuo waved his hand lightly. "It's nothing. I do like it here though." It was kinda cute how shy Izaya was acting, even if it still looked like him.

Shizuo waved his hand lightly. "It's nothing. I do like it here though." It was kinda cute how shy Izaya was acting, even if it still looked like him. After a bit, the waitress came back and set their food down. "Well, let's eat."

Izyaa nodded and sighed happily at the first bite. "Oh good, you like what I ordered~"

Shizuo chuckled. "You'd eat it anyway, wouldn't you? Ah, but it's better that you like it."

"I was trying to find something I would like in this body... but yes, I would prefer to like it than to eat it and I don't believe in wasting food."

"I don't believe in wasting food either. I mean, I don't really make that much money, so I can't afford to waste food." Shizuo shrugged.

"Guess that's true. So tell me, how... how much do you make usually?"

Shizuo shrugged. "It depends on how many people we collect debts from. I don't really know."

"You don't know your own salary?" Izaya frowned. Even he knew how much he made in a year.

Shizuo shrugged. "It's enough to get by. I know that."

Shizuo rolled his eyes. "Just give me a moment to figure it out. I usually just go by it's enough to survive." Shizuo was silent as he tried to figure it out in his head, even drawing on his hand with his finger to help. "I'd say that I earn about 200,000 yen a year."

"Ah? That's it?" Izaya was shocked it was so low. He made more than that in one job usually.

Shizuo nodded. "Yeah. I get my check cut in half. But I can live on it."

"I see... why are they cutting your check then?"

Shizuo looked at Izaya for a moment before sighing. "My tempter and strength." That probably answered it.

"I see... then what you owe is partly my fault, isn't it?"

"Hmm. I guess so. I mean, a lot of the damage is from me chasing you around."

"Well then I'll pay for some too..."

"Eh?" Shizuo shook his head. "No. It's fine. As long as I have work, I'll pay it off eventually."

"I caused most of it, and I have a way higher disposable income then you, let me pay for some,"

Shizuo frowned. He really didn't like having others help him with money problems. He had even turned down Kasuka when he had offered. "It's fine. You don't have to pay for it."

"I do if it's my fault. Don't think of it as me giving you money, think of it as me paying back what I owe you,"

"Hmmm." Phrased differently... "Alright. But not till after we switch back."

"Ahh... fine," Izaya sighed. Not that Shizuo could really stop him either though.

Shizuo shrugged before going to eat his meal. "Let's just eat now."

"Sure..." Izaya kept eating though he disliked long periods of silence. He was the type to talk during meals and sometimes he talked just for there to be noise.

Shizuo, on the other hand, was used to there being silence. He'd eat breakfast alone in his quiet apartment. Lunch would be out with Tom, though they wouldn't talk, and dinner would either be at Russia Sushi where he was still quiet or more likely alone at his apartment. He didn't actually talk while walking around with Tom either unless it was about a client or they were confronting a client. So he didn't really think of it. Besides, there were other people eating there, so there was some noise.

Izaya hated it though. He was used to it but he loathed it. It reminded him of when his parents died too much and it made him anxious and uncomfortable.

"Shizu-chan, can we talk about something?"

"Huh? Oh. Uh. Sure. But what?"

"Anything... I-I really don't... like silence..."

"Oh. Well. Um..." Shizuo really wasn't the best when it came to conversations, at least he didn't think so. "Uh... So how much do you think we have to get along before we switch back?"

"N-not sure... maybe if we just get along like we are now but if she's waiting for us to become BFF's there's no way..."

Shizuo shrugged. "You don't know that. I mean before, when we were fighting, didn't it seem impossible to get along?"

"Ah... it did... but it depends how far she does expect us to go too, eventually we may have to just tell her to switch us back."

Shizuo shrugged. "Guess so. Maybe she expects us to become friends. Not necessarily best friends though."

Maybe... but if we at least get along she'll be okay too I think..."

Shizuo shrugged. "Then I guess since we're getting along, we can go to see her tomorrow to switch back."

"Might as well," Izaya shrugged as he finished the last mouthful of food and sighed contentedly.

Shizuo chuckled before finishing his food off as well. "Shall we go home now?"

"Sure, guess so," Izaya paid though in cash so the waitress wouldn't know who paid before they returned to Izaya's.


End file.
